In t\t farat of i\t Jntfjer, anb of if?t £on, anb of tbr £)olg (Sbost. &mm. 



TBI SICS IF IB! CROSS 



IN THE 



NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



BY MGR. GAUME, 

Prothonotary Apostolic. 



By this Sign th.ou shalt Conquer, 



lonquer. {.Euseb. Vit 



Const , i, 22.] 



With the Brief of His Holiness, Pope Pius IX, fwho attaches to the Sign of the 
Cross, an indu'gence of Fifty Days.) And Translator's Dedication. 



TRANSLATED FROM THE LAST FRENCH EDITION, 

By a Daughter of St. Joseph. 



PHILADELPHIA: 

PETER F. CUNNINGHAM, PUBLISHER, 2l6 SOUTH THIRD STREET. 



1873- 




Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 187?, by 

PETER F. CUNNINGHAM, 
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 



CONTENTS. 



Dedication to the Glorious St. Joseph 9 

Preface to Second Edition 11 

Preface to First Edition 26 

FIRST LETTER. 



State of the Question — The Present World does not make the 
Sign of Cross, or makes it seldom, or makes it badly — The Prim- 
itive Christians made it, they made it frequently, they made it 
well — We are right, and they were wrong, or we are wrong, 
and they were right ; which is true 27 

SECOND LETTER. 

Examination of the Question — Prepossessions in favor of the 
early Christians — First prepossession, their lights — Second, their 
sanctity — Third, the practice of true Christians in every age — * 
Were the Fathers of the Church great geniuses ? 35 

THIRD LETTER. 

Continuation of the third prepossession : The Doctors of the East 
and West — Constantine, Theodosius, Charlemagne, St. Louis, 
Bayard, Don John of Austria, Sobieski — Fourth prepossession, 
the conduct of the Church — Fifth prepossession, those who do 
not make the Sign of the Cross-^Summary 44 

3 



4 



Contents. 



FOURTH LETTER. 

Answer to one objection : the times are changed — Reasons in favor 
of the primitive Christians, drawn from the very nature of the 
Sign of the Cross — The Sign of the Cross is five things — A 
divine sign which ennobles man — Proofs that the Sign of the 
Cross is divine 56 



FIFTH LETTER. 

The Sign of the Cross ennobles us — It is the exclusive sign of the 
elite of humanity — It is the escutcheon of Catholicity — What 
a Catholic is — By ennobling us, the Sign of the Cross teaches 
us the respect due to ourselves — Importance of this lesson — 
Disgrace of those who do not make this sign — Picture of the 
contempt they have for themselves. 04 



SIXTH LETTER. 

Continuation of the preceding letter— The Sign of the Cross is a 
book winch instructs us — Creation, Redemption, Glorification : 
three words which contain all the science of God, of man, and 
of the world — The Sign of the Cross says these three words 
with authority, with clearness, with sublimity — It says them 
to every one, everywhere, and always 74 



SEYEXTH LETTER. 

The place which the Sign of Cross holds in the world — What the 
human race was before it knew how to make the Sign of the 
Cross — What becomes of the world when it ceases to make it — 
Another point of view — The Sign of the Cross is a treasure 
which enriches us 82 



EIGHTH LETTER. 

The Sign of the Cross known and practised since the beginning 
of the world — Contradictions only apparent — Seven ways of 
making the Sign of the Cross — Testimonies of the Fathers — 
David, Solomon, and all the Jewish nation made the Sign of 
the Cross, and knew its value — Proofs c . 92 



Contents. 



5 



NINTH LETTER. 

The Sign of the Cross among Pagans — New details of an exterior 
form of the Sign of the Cross among the first Christians — The 
Martyrs in the amphitheatre— Etymology of the word adore — 
The Pagans adored by making the Sign of the Cross — How 
they made it — First manner 103 

TEXTII LETTER. 

Second and third way in which the Pagans made the Sign of the 
Cross — Testimonies — The Pietas publico, — The Pagans acknow- 
ledged a mysterious power in the Sign of the Cross — Whence 
came that belief — Great mystery of the moral world — Import- 
ance of the Sign of the Cross in the sight of God — The Sign of 
the Cross in the physical world — Words of the Fathers and of 
Plato — Inconsistency of the ancient and modern Pagans — Rea- 
son of the especial hatred of the demon for the Sign of the 
Cross 113 

ELEVENTH LETTER. 

The Sign of the Cross is a treasure that enriches us, because it ia 
a prayer: proofs — A powerful prayer: proofs — A universal 
prayer: proofs — It supplies all our wants — For his soul man 
needs lights — The Sign of the Cross obtains them : proofs — 
Examples of the Martyrs , 129 

TWELFTH LETTER. 

Perpetual necessity of the Sign of the Cross to obtain strength — 
Its recommendation and practice by the chiefs of the spiritual 
combat — The Sign of the Cross in temptations — The Sign of the 
Cross at death — Examples of the martyrs — Examples of true 
Christians dying a natural death — The dying caused the Sign 
of the Cross to be made on them by their brethren 146 

THIRTEENTH LETTER. 

Effects of the Sign of the Cross in the temporal order — It cures 
all diseases, and removes whatever can harm us — It gives sight 
to the blind, hearing to the deaf, speech to the dumb, the use 
of their limbs to the lame and paralyzed; cures other maladies, 
and restores life to the dead 159 



6 



Contents, 



FOURTEENTH LETTER. 

The Sign of the Cross a preservative against all that could 
injure life or health — It appeases tempests — Extinguishes fire 
— Protects us against accidents — Opposes a barrier to floods 
— Causes the waters to return to their bounds — Keeps fero- 
cious beasts at a distance — Preserves from poison, from thun- 
derbolts — Makes creatures the instruments of prodigies 176 



FIFTEENTH LETTER. 

Answer to a question — The Sign of the Cross is a weapon which 
repulses the enemy — Life is a warfare — Against whom ?— 
Necessity of a weapon within the reach of every one— 
What is that weapon ? — Proofs that the Sign of the Cross 
is the special weapon, the most forcible weapon against the 
evil spirits 192 



SIXTEENTH LETTER. 

The Sign of the Cross breaks idols and expels the demons from 
them: examples — It expels them from the possessed: examples 
— Recent anecdote — Other proofs: exorcisms — It renders vain 
the direct attacks of the demons: examples — Their indirect 
attacks: proofs — All creatures subject to the demons serve 
as their instruments to harm us — The Sign of the Cross 
delivers them, and prevents their being injurious to our 
body or soul — Profound Philosophy of the early Christians 
— The use they made of the Sign of the Cross — Tableau by 
St. Chrysostom 210 



SEVENTEENTH LETTER. 

Summary — Nature of the Sign of the Cross — How it is valued at 
the present day — What the contempt and forgetfulness of the 
Sign of the Cross announce — Spectacle of the present world — ■ 
Satan returns — To remain faithful to the Sign of the Cross — 
Principally before and after meals — Reason, honor, and liberty 
command it — Is reason for or against those who make the Sign 
of the Cross over food — Examples and arguments... 228 



Contents, 



7 



EIGHTEENTH LETTER. 

Honor commands us to pray before and after meals — Prayer over 
food is as ancient as the world, as wide-spread as the human 
race— Proofs : Benedicite and Grace of every people — Not 
to say them is to liken ourselves to beings which do not 
belong to the human species — The blessing at table is a law 
of humanity , 242 

NINETEENTH LETTER. 

Reasons for the blessing of the table — It is an act of freedom — 
Three tyrants; the world, the flesh, the devil — Triple victory 
of the' Sign of the Cross and prayer over food — Victory over 
the world: proofs — Over the flesh; proofs — Over the demon: 
proofs — Remarkable testimony of Porphyrias — Facts cited by 
St. Gregory — Conclusion..... 256 



TWENTIETH LETTER. 

The Sign of the Cross is a guide that conducts us — Necessity of a 
guide — State of man here below — The Sign of the Cross con- 
ducts man to his end by remembrance, and by imitation — Re- 
membrance which it recalls — General remembrance — Particular 
remembrance — Particular imitation 271 



TWENTY-FIRST LETTER. 

General imitation — Imitation of the sanctity of God — What 
sanctity is — The Sign of the Cross, the sanctifier of man and 
of creatures — Imitation of the charity of God — What charity 
is in God — What it should be in us — In teaching it to us, the 
Sign of the Cross is an eloquent and sure guide — Incontestable 
proofs 284 

TWENTY- SECOND LETTER. 

Sentence of the judgment between us and the first Christians — 
First obligation, to make the Sign of the Cross boldly, to make 
it often, and to make it well — Reasons for making it boldly — 
Disgrace and danger of not making it — State of the physical 
and moral health of the world at the present day 295 



8 



Contents. 



TWEXTY-THIRD LETTER. 

Reasons of the power and exalted mission of the Sign of the 
Cross — Fundamental dogma — What happens in the political 
order a figure of what takes place in the moral order — The 
Reformation, first daughter of Paganism, throws down all the 
crosses — The French Revolution, second daughter of Paganism, 
imitates her sister — Second obligation, to make the Sign of the 
Cross frequently — Reasons drawn from our present state — 
Third obligation, to make it well, condition — The Sign of the 
Cross, eternal sign of victory — Constantine — Praises of the Sign 
of the Cross 307 



DEDICATION 



TO 

THE GLORIOUS ST. JOSEPH. 



O Blessed Father St. Joseph ; Guardian 
of the Incarnate Word, Spouse of the Im- 
maculate Mother of God, and Patron of the 
Universal Church; with sentiments of the 
deepest love and gratitude, I dedicate to thee 
this work, destined, I hope, to enkindle in 
many hearts, devotion to the Cross of Jesus, 
the shadow of which brooded so heavily, yet 
withal so gloriously, over thy life in Bethle- 
hem, Egypt, and Nazareth. 

Deign, O Holy Patron, to accept and bless 
it, that through thy intercession it may be- 
come to many the channel of the graces 
promised herein. 

By the memory of the agony thou didst 

9 



IO 



Dedication. 



undergo during" the three days' loss, I 
beseech thee, to take pity on those myriads 
of souls who have wilfully lost their God, 
have separated themselves from Him and 
His Church, and rush blindly to destruction, 
ignorant or unmindful of their loss, 

Thou art, according to St. Teresa, the 
Minister Plenipotentiary, the Treasurer Gen- 
eral of the Most High, Open, then, those 
heavenly treasures; shed them on the chil- 
dren of the Church committed to thy care, 
and grant that bv means of the Sign of the 
Cross, we may pass through life untainted by 
the vice and infidelity of the world. Let us 
not "glory, save in the Cross of our Lord 
Jesus Christ," the instrument of our Redemp- 
tion, the pledge of our eternal salvation. 

The Translator, 

Feast of the Presentation of our Lady, Xov. 21st. 1S72. 



PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 



One word on the publication of this little 
work, and the unexpected success it has 
obtained. How did the idea of this book 
occur to us? Who arranged the unforeseen 
circumstances to which it owes its origin? 
Why does a work, destined to reawaken the 
faith of the Catholic world in the Sign of the 
Cross, appear at this time, and not two or 
three centuries ago? Why is it, that until 
now, no Pope thought of attaching a spiritual 
favor to that formula, the most venerable, 
most ancient, and most customary of our 
religion? How is it, that amidst so many 
solicitudes, Pius IX. has deigned to listen to 
our feeble voice, and hastened to admonish 
the Christians of our day to have recourse 
as frequently as possible to the Sign of the 
Cross, conformably to the example of their 
primitive ancestors? Why, in order to en- 
courage them, has he enriched its use with 

1 1 



12 Preface to the Second Edition. 



an indulgence doubly precious? To all these 
questions we knew not, at first, what to 
reply. But now the light is made. 

All comes to the point in the Church, for 
Divine Providence never gropes in' the dark. 
Accustomed as it is, to use that which is not, 
to confound that which is, it shows itself no 
less admirable in small things than in great. 
The Sign of the Cross is, then, the arm 
of power against the demon. Instructed by 
the apostles themselves, the early Christians 
knew it. In continual warfare with Satan in 
all the power of his reign, and the cruelty 
of his rage; the regulator of morals, ideas, 
arts, theatres, festivals, and laws; the master 
of altars and thrones, sullying all, and making 
of all an instrument of corruption, they had 
incessant recourse to this infallible means 
of dispelling the fascinating charm, and ward- 
ing off the fiery darts of the enemy. Hence, 
the continual Sign of the Cross became for 
them an exorcism of every moment. 

If, then, there appears now, without any 
premeditated design on the part of the author, 
a work designed to make the Christians of 
our day retake the victorious weapon of 
their ancestors; if, notwithstanding so many- 
adverse circumstances, this work spreads so 



Preface to the Second Edition. 13 

rapidly; if it wins, even in Rome itself, the 
most august and precious of all suffrages; if, 
in fine, after eighteen centuries, the Vicar 
of Jesus Christ, the Chief of the eternal 
combat, by a solemn act, urges the Catholic 
world to have recourse incessantly to this 
sign, so victorious over paganism: — is it not 
reasonable to conclude that we find ourselves, 
in many respects, in a position analogous to 
that of the primitive Christians? 

If they were confronted with Satan, the 
king and god of that age ; if they lived in the 
midst of a w r orld that was not Christian, that 
wished not to become such, that wished no 
one to be such, that persecuted those who 
continued to be such; — are not we confronted 
with Satan, who, unchained on the earth, is 
inciting nations to rebel against Jesus Christ, 
and making them cry out incessantly: "We 
will not have Him reign any longer over 
us"? And amidst what do the Christians of 
our day live? Are they not surrounded by 
a world that is ceasing to be Christian ; that 
does not wish to return to Christianity, that 
does not wish others to belong to it, that 
persecutes in every possible way those who 
persist in doing so? 

Cunning, violence, calumny, injury, bias- 



14 Preface to the Second Edition. 



phemy, sarcasm, spoliation, exile, death itself, 
— are not all employed against the children, 
as they were against the fathers? Arts, 
theatres, books, feasts, laws, sciences, — are 
they not now, as formerly, employed as weap- 
ons against Christianity ? Is it, then, aston- 
ishing that the Sentinel of Israel, the Sove- 
reign Pontiff, has come, by an act unknown 
in his predecessors, to reawaken the faith 
of Christians, by this sign, the protector of 
the Church and of society? The analogy is 
so striking that Protestants themselves are 
amazed at it. In their view, as in ours, there 
is no salvation for the present world but in 
the Cross. In the beginning of October a 
Prussian journal, the Gazette of the Cross, 
published a long article entitled: By this 
sign thou shalt conquer: In hoc signo vinces. 
"To-day," said the Protestant writer, "we 
are engaged in spiritual warfare with the 
same antichristianism which Constantine, of 
old, vanquished with the material sword. 
Doubtless we should again say : ' Thou shalt 
conquer by this sign: in hoc signo vinces! 
The hidden and cruel powers of darkness rise 
to assault that Crown, by the grace of God, the 
key of the arch of the social Christian order." 
Must not then the evil and the remedy be 



Preface to the Second Edition. y 15 



equally incontestable, when we see those 
same Protestants who formerly repudiated 
the sign of the cross as an act of idolatry, 
proclaiming the necessity of having recourse 
to it in these days, as a weapon, indispensable 
to us, if we wish to conquer the hidden and 
cruel powers, whose triumph would be that 
of barbarism? 

The appearance, in some manner providen- 
tial, of The Sign of the Cross in the Nineteenth 
Century, alone explains the rapid success 
which it has obtained. The first French 
edition was sold in a few months, Three 
translations of it have been made into dif- 
ferent European languages — one in Rome, 
one in Turin, and one in Germany. Catholic 
papers have vied with one another in recom- 
mending its perusal, and many letters have 
been sent to us, bearing the congratulations 
of the most respectable men of France and 
foreign countries : Soli Deo honor et gloria^ 
to God alone be honor and glory. 

All agree to show the fitness of our humble 
work, and to enhance the greatness of the 
pontifical grace which is the eternal result of 
it. Let us quote only a few lines, begging 
those who wrote them to receive the expres- 
sions of our sincere gratitude. 



i 6 Preface to the Second Edition, 



The learned Neapolitan review, Scienza 
e Fede, concludes its long analysis by saying, 
"What profit," will our society, immersed in 
materialism, exclaim, "what profit can human- 
ity draw from this new work of Mgr. Gaume? 
Will it give help to the poor laboring classes, 
whom the revolution has deprived of work ? 
Will it enroll volunteers for Poland? Will it 
exterminate the brig-andaee which is desola- 
ting Italy ? . . . It will do more than all 
this. It will give the bread of faith to those 
in want of it. It will enroll the Christians of 
the nineteenth century under the standard of 
the Cross, in the furious war which they have 
to sustain against the infernal brigand; under 
this divine standard, which has saved the 
world, and which alone can again preserve 
it. . . Whatever the future mav be, it will 
teach them how to be noble victors or noble 
victims; in hoc vifice." 

Overjoyed at seeing an indulgence at- 
tached to the Sign of the Cross, the venera- 
ble Dean of the Catholic Chair writes: "An 
indulgence granted to the Sign of the Cross 

at your request! What will so many 

persons, whom I do not wish to name, say? 
The Holy Father has repaid with usury the 
pains you have taken in order to stop the 



Preface to the Second Edition, 17 



paganism which invades us. By you and 
through you the whole Church receives the 
signal favor of an indulgence, extensive as 
the universe and durable as ages, which shall 
fall at every hour, at every second, as a re- 
freshing dew upon the souls in purgatory ! 

"How many blessings will those souls call 
down upon you ! And if, at the time of your 
death, you be called on to pay them a short 
visit, what a reception will there await you!" 

Let us pass to other testimonies, and come 
to those which have emanated from Rome. 
The Commission charged with the care of 
the regionary schools has thought it neces- 
sary to address the following circular to 
those who direct them. 

"Among many books, useless and danger- 
ous, particularly for youth, there are not 
wanting some that are useful, and well cal- 
culated to spread in the souls of youth the 
beautiful maxims of our august religion, and 
the love of its holy practices. 

"One of those works is, unquestionably, 
that lately published by Tiberine, entitled 
The Sign of the Cross in the Nineteenth Cen- 
tury, which has been highly eulogized by 
many Catholic journals. 

"The undersigned, while strongly recom- 



1 8 Preface to the Second Edition, 



mending teachers not to permit in their 
schools any work not approved by the Com- 
mission, equally recommends them to cause 
the aforesaid work to be bought and read by 
their pupils. They may also use it as a 
premium at the annual Distributions which 
they are accustomed to have in their respec- 
tive schools. 

"Rome, from the Office of the Secretary of 
the Commission. 

L. Pierano, Deputy!' 



LETTER OF HIS EMINENCE, CARDINAL ALTIERI, 

PREFECT OF THE SACRED CONGREGATION OF THE INDEX, 
TO MGR. GAUME, PROTHONOTARY APOSTOLIC. 

"Rome, August 1th, 1863. 

"Most Illustrious Lord : 

"By the publication of your admirable work, 
The Sign of the Cross, you have rendered a 
new and signal service to the cause of the 
Church of Jesus Christ. In effect, vou have 
made known to the faithful in the most attrac- 
tive manner, all that is clearly contained, all 
that is taught, all that is operated in a most 
sublime manner of what is holy, divine, and 
consequently, sovereignly useful to souls in 



Preface to the Second hdition, 19 

this sacred formula, as ancient as the Church 
herself. 

"The august Chief of this same Church, 
the Vicar of Christ, the Sovereign Pontiff, 
could not but receive most joyfully, a work 
so precious and useful to Christian people. 
Therefore, not only did he express his great 
satisfaction when I gave into his sacred 
hands the copy you hastened to offer him 
by my means, but he has, moreover, been 
pleased to grant, with kindness, the desire 
you expressed of seeing the practice of the 
Sien of the Cross enriched with an indul- 
gence, thereby to incite them to make use of 
it for the defence of their souls, without any 
human respect, and as frequently as possible, 

"In the following Brief, you will see how 
bountiful the Holy Father has shown himself 
by the concession of such a grace, and how 
much it will cause its value to be appreciated. 
It is highly important that this new favor of 
the supreme dispenser of heavenly treasures, 
granted for" the advantage of the Church mili- 
tant, be universally known, at the same time 
that your excellent book shall be more widely 
spread and better appreciated. In the Italian 
translation made of it by the incomparable 
Angel qf Aquila, will be found the Brief, and 



20 Preface to the Second Edition. 



It ought to be inserted in the new editions 
which certainly cannot fail to succeed each 
other. In this manner shall be filled the void 
which you have signalized in the Racolta delle 
Indulgenze. 

"Thus, your Excellency shall receive the 
worthy recompense, and certainly, that most 
desired by your heart, in seeing the treasures 
of Redemption opened for the good of souls 
still living on earth, or already descended into 
purgatory, by the effects of the work you 
have composed with a view to draw the atten- 
tion of every one to the first sign of the wor- 
ship which all should render to the principal 
instrument of our Redemption. 

" Receive the expression of the sincere 
and high esteem with which 

"J am, Most illustrious Lord, 

"Your affectionate Servant, 

"L. Cardinal Altieri." 



BRIEF OF HIS HOLINESS PIUS IX., POPE. 

FOR ETERNAL REMEMBRANCE. 

Being fully certain that the salutary mys- 
tery of the redemption and the divine virtue 
are contained in the Sign of the Cross of our 



Preface to the Second Edition. 21 



Lord Jesus Christ, the faithful of the primitive 
Church made the most frequent use of this 
sign, as we learn from the most ancient and 
notable monuments. It was even by this 
sign that they began all their actions. 

"At all our steps, all our motions, our 
incomings and outgoings, lighting the lamps, 
sitting down to table, taking a seat; whatever 
we do, or whithersoever we go, we mark our 
foreheads with the Sign of the Cross," says 
Tertullian. 

"Considering these things, we have judged 
proper to reawaken the piety of the faithful 
tow r ards the salutary sign of our Redemption, 
by opening the heavenly treasures, in order 
that, imitating the beautiful example of the 
early Christians, they may not blush at 
making frequently, openly, and publicly the 
Sign of the Cross, which is the standard of 
the Christian militia. 

"Therefore, confiding in the mercy of the 
Almighty God, and in the authority of His 
blessed apostles, Peter and Paul, we grant, in 
the accustomed manner of the Church, to all 
and every one of the faithful of both sexes, 
every time that, at least, contrite in heart, and 
adding the invocation of the Blessed Trinity, 
they make the sign of the cross, fifty days 



22 Preface to the Second Edition. 

indulgence for the penances which would 
have been imposed or that they should do 
for any reason whatever; we moreover grant 
mercifully in the Lord, that these indulgences 
may be applied, in the way of suffrage, to the 
souls who have departed this life in the 
grace of God. Notwithstanding- all things 
to the contrary, these presents shall be in 
perpetuity. 

"It is also our will that the same credit be 
given to any written or printed copy of these 
presents, signed by a public notary, having 
the seal of an ecclesiastical dignitary, as 
would be given to these presents themselves, 
if they were shown or exhibited. 

" Also, that a copy of these letters be taken 
to the Office of the Secretary of the Sacred 
Congregation of Indulgences and Holy Rel- 
ics, under pain of nullity, conformably to the 
decree of the said Congregation, dated Jan- 
uary 19th, 1756, approved by our predecessor 
of holy memory, Pope Benedict XIV, the 
28th of the same month and the same year. 

"Given at Rome, at St. Peter's, under the 
ring of the Fisherman, the 28th of July, 1863, 
the eighteenth of our Pontificate. 

N. Cardinal Paracciaxi Clarelli:" 



Preface to the Second Edition. 23 



"These present apostolic letters, in the 
form of a Brief, dated July 28th, 1863, were 
presented at the Office of the Secretary of 
the Sacred Congregation of Indulgences on 
the 4th of August of the same year, con- 
formably to the decree of the same Sacred 
Congregation, under date of the 14th of 
April, 1856. 

" In testimony of which, given in Rome at 
the same Office, the day and year as men- 
tioned above. 

A. Archbp. Prinzivalli, Stibstit" 



PIUS. PP IX. 

Ad perpetuam rei memoriam. Quum salu- 
tiferse reparationis mysterium virtutemque 
divinam in Crucis Domini Nostri Jesu Christi 
vexillo contineri perspectum haberent primi 
Ecclesiae fideles, frequentissimo illo signo 
eosdem usos fuisse vetustissima et insignia 
monumenta declarant. Quin ab eodem signo 
quascumque actiones auspicabantur, et ad 
omnem progressum atque promotum, ad 
omnem aditum, et exitum, ad lumina, ad cubi- 
lia, ad sedilia,- quacumque nos conversatio 
exercet, frontem Crucis, signaculo terimus, 
inquiebat Tertullianus, 



24 



Preface to the Second Edition. 



Haec nos perpendentes fidelium pietatem 
erga illud salutiferum Redemptionis nostrae 
signum caelestes Indulgentiarum thesauros 
reserando iterum excitandum censuimus ; quo 
pulchra veterum Christianorum exempla imi- 
tantes signo Crucis, quae tanquam tessera est 
Christianae militiae frequentius et palam etiam 
ac publice se munire non erubescant. Quare 
de Omnipotentis Dei misericordia, ac. BB. 
Petri et Pauli App. ejus auctoritate confisi, 
omnibus et singulis utriusque sexus Christi 
fidelibus quoties saltern corde contrito, ad- 
jectaque Sanctissimae Trintatis invocatione 
Crucis forma se signaverint, toties quinqua- 
ginta dies de injunctis eis seu alias quomodo- 
libet debitis pcenitentiis in forma Ecclesiae 
consueta relaxamus; quas pcenitentiarum re- 
laxationes etiam animabus Christi fidelium, 
quae Deo in charitate conjunctae ab hac luce 
migraverint, per modum suffragii applicare 
possint, misericorditer in Domino concedimus. 
In contrarium facientibus non obstantibus qui- 
buscumque, praesentibus, perpetuis futuris 
temporibus, valituris. Volumus autem, ut 
praesentium litterarum transumptis seu ex- 
emplis etiam impressis, manu alicujus No- 
tarii publici subscriptis, et sigillo persons 
in ecclesiastica dignitate constitutae munitis 



Preface to the Second Edition. 2 



eadem prorsus fides adhibeatur, quae adhib- 
eretur ipsis praesentibus si forent exhibitae 
vel ostensae; utque earumdem exemplar ad 
Secretarium S. Congregationis Indulgfen- 
tiarum, Sacrisque Reliquiis praepositae defe- 
ratur, secus nullas esse eas volumus, juxta 
Decretum ab eadem S. Congregatione sub 
die XIX Januarii MDGCLVI latum, et a. s. m. 

Benedicto PP. XIV Praedecessore Nostro 
die XXVIII. dicti mensis et anni adprobatum. 

Datum Romae apud S. Petrum sub annulo 
Piscatoris die XXVIII. Julii MDCCCLXIII, 
Pontificatus nostri anno decimo octavo. 

Praesentes Litterae apostolicae in forma 
Brevis sub die de 28 Julii 1863, exhibita 
fuerunt in secretaria S. Congre^ationis indul- 
gentiarum die 4 Augusti ejusdem anni ad 
formam decreti ipsius S. Congregationis die 
14 Aprilis 1856. 

In quorum fidem datum Romae ex eadem 
secretaria die et anno up supra. 

A. Archiepiscopus Prinzivalli, 

Substitutes* 




PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 



In the month of November of the year 
1862, a young German Catholic of great 
distinction arrived in Paris to pursue his 
course in the College of France. Faithful, 
according to the traditional usage of his 
country, to make the Sign of the Cross 
before and after meals, he, on the first day, 
became the wonder of his school-companions. 
The next day, in virtue of the freedom of 
worship, he was the object of their mock- 
eries. In one of his visits he begged us to 
tell him what we thought of the practice, of 
which his companions were trying to make 
him ashamed, and of the sign of the cross in 
general. The following letters are intended 
as an answer to those two questions. 



26 



THE SIGN OF THE CROSS 

IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



FIRST LETTEU. 

State of the question — The present world does not make 
the Sign of the Cross, or makes it seldom, or makes it 
badly — The primitive Christians made it, they made it 
frequently, they made it well — We are right and 
they were wrong, or we are wrong and they were right 
— which is true? 

Paris, November 25th, 1862. 

My Dear Frederic : 

Scarcely fifteen days have elapsed since 
the newspapers announced the shipwreck of 
Captain Walker. This account, which we 
read together, was so much the more sorrow- 
ful, as by it we learned the death of many 
of the passengers with whom we were ac- 
quainted. The vessel had struck upon a 
rock ; the waves rushed in through the 
breach. Notwithstanding the efforts of the 
sailors, it was impossible to close it. In less 
than an hour the hold was flooded. The 

27 



28 



The Sign of the Cross 



ship visibly sank below the water-line. In 
the hope of saving it, they began to throw all 
the merchandise into the sea. 

After the merchandise, the munitions of 
war, the furniture and part of the rigging. 
Then followed the provisions, excepting two 
or three casks of water, and a few bags of 
biscuits. All was useless. The vessel con- 
tinued to sink, and its total wreck became 
imminent. As the last resource, Walker 
ordered the life-boats to be lowered ; every 
one rushed into them. Unfortunately, the 
greater number, instead of safety, found there 
a watery grave. 

With a few variations, this is, as you know, 
the history of every great shipwreck. 

The unfortunate men, who, in such an 
extremity command the vessel, are perfectly 
excusable in casting into the sea everything 
that they can make away with. Life before 
everything. 

The world of our day, that world which 
still calls itself Christian, and to which, no 
doubt, your young companions belong, pre- 
sents more than one point of resemblance 
to a vessel damaged and about to perish. 
The furious tempests, which for a long time 
have incessantly beaten upon the vessel of 



In the Nineteenth Century. 



29 



the Church, have made large breaches in it, 
through which have entered many waves of 
antichristian doctrines, morals, customs and 
tendencies. 

Woe, not to the vessel, which is imperish- 
able, but to the passengers, who are not so ! 

What has it done? I speak not of the 
world openly pagan ; its shipwreck is con- 
summated. I speak of the world which still 
pretends to be Christian. 

What has it done, what does it continue to 
do every day w^ith the munitions of war and 
the provisions of life, with the merchandise, 
furniture and rigging with which the Church 
had supplied the vessel, that, notwithstanding 
the dangers of rocks and tempests, it might 
be assured of a successful voyage into the 
port of eternity ? It has thrown them all, or 
nearly all, into the sea. 

Where are the prayers that were formerly 
said in common in families ? In the sea. 
Pious reading and meditation ? In the sea. 
The blessing at meals ? In the sea. 

The habit of iassisting daily at the Holy 
Sacrifice, the use of the scapular, and the 
beads ? In the sea. The serious sanctifica- 
tion of the Sunday, by assisting at all the 
offices and instructions, by visiting the poor, 



30 The Sign of the Cross 

the sick and the afflicted ? In the sea. The 
regular reception of the holy sacraments, the 
obedience to the laws of fast and abstinence? 
In the sea. 

The spirit of simplicity, of mortification, of 
modesty in dress, amusement, furniture, food 
and lodging? where are the crucifix, holy 
images, holy water in apartments. In the 
sea, all in the sea. And the vessel still 
continues to sink. The Christian spirit is 
diminishing- ; the contrary spirit is increasing. 

They cast themselves into skiffs, that is to 
say, into some kind of religion, which they 
make to suit their age, position, temperament 
and taste, and they live in this way. 

Assisting at a Low Mass on Sunday; and 
how? at WvAx Mass, three or four times a 
year; at Vespers, never. Frequenting thea- 
tres and balls, reading everything that falls 
in their way, refusing themselves nothing but 
what they cannot get ; — behold the frail skiffs 
to which they intrust their • salvation ! Can 
w r e be amazed at so many shipwrecks? Poor 
passengers, separated from the vessel, how 
much you are to be pitied ! How much 
more to be pitied is the rising generation! 
Among the Catholic customs so imprudently 
abandoned by the present world, is one, pre- 



In the Nineteenth Century, 31 

cious among all others, which I would wish, 
at every hazard, to save from shipwreck. It 
is that which your companions despise, with- 
out being aware of it: I mean the Sign of the 
Cross. It is time to provide for its preserva- 
tion. Yet a little while, and it shall have met 
the fate of so many other traditional prac- 
tices, which we owe to the maternal solicitude 
of the Church, and to the intelligent piety of 
Christian a^es. 

Would you wish to know, dear Frederic, 
what is now the Sign of the Cross with those 
who pretend to be Christians ? Place your- 
self on a Sunday at the door of a large 
church. Look at the crowd that enters the 
house of God. 

A great number advance haughtily or fool- 
ishly, it is all the same, into the holy place, 
without even casting a glance at the holy 
water font, and without making the Sign of 
the Cross. As great a number pretend to 
take or receive holy water, and make the 
Sign of the Cross. You will see them clip 
their gloved hand into the holy water font, 
a thing as much against the liturgy, as to 
go to Confession or Holy Communion with 
gloves on. 

As to their manner of making the Sign of 



3^ 



The Sign of the Cross 



the Cross, it would be better to say nothing 
about it ; it is capable of puzzling the most 
learned explainer of hieroglyphics. A motion 
of the hand, careless, hurried, mechanical, 
and imperfect, to which it is impossible to 
assign a form, or give a signification, unless 
that the actors themselves do not attach the 
least importance to what they do ; — behold 
their Sign of the Cross every Sunday. 

Amono- that crowd of Christians you will 
scarcely meet any who make this venerable 
sign of salvation, carefully, correctly, and 
religiously. 

If, then, in a public place and under such 
solemn circumstances, the greater number of 
persons do not make the Sign of the Cross, 
or make it badly, I can scarcely persuade 
myself that they make it, and make it well, 
in other cases, where there are, apparently, 
fewer motives to do so. 

It is, then, an indisputable fact, that the 
Christians of our day do not make the Siom 
of the Cross, or make it but seldom, and very 
carelessly. 

In this point, as in so many others, we are 
diametrically opposed to our ancestors, the 
Christians of the primitive Church. They 
made the Sign of the Cross, they made it 



In the Nineteenth Century. 



well, they made it very often. In the East 
as well as in the West, in Jerusalem, in 
Athens, and in Rome, the old and the young, 
the rich and the poor, priests and laymen, all 
classes of society, religiously observed this 
traditional custom. History affirms nothing 
more strongly, All the Fathers of the Church 
who were eye witnesses, assert it, all his- 
torians prove it. Nothing would be easier 
than to cite their words. You will find them 
in the work De Cruce, by your learned coun- 
tryman, Gretzer. 

In the name of all, hear the words of Ter- 
tullian: "At every motion and every step, 
entering in or going out, when dressing, 
bathing, going to meals, lighting the lamps, 
sleeping* or sitting, whatever we do, or 
whithersoever we go, we mark our foreheads 
with the Sign of the Cross." 

From this we are to understand, that at 
every moment our ancestors made the Sign 
of the Cross in one way or another, that they 
made it not only on the forehead, but also on 
the eyes, mouth, and breast. Hence it fol- 
lows, that if the first Christians were to reap- 
pear in our houses or public places, and do 
to-day what they did eighteen centuries ago, 

* With hands crossed on the breast. 



34 



The Sign of the Cross. 



we should be tempted to regard them as lun- 
atics. So true it is, that in the use of the 
Sign of the Cross we are directly opposed to 
them. They were wrong, and we are right ; 
or they were right, and we are wrong ; either 
the one or the other ; there is no medium. 
Which is true? Such is the question. It is 
grave, very grave ; much more so than your 
companions, and those like them, think. 

I hope to convince you of this in my suc- 
ceeding letters. 



SECOND LETTER. 



examination of the question— prepossessions in favor of 
the early christians — flrst prepossession, their lights — 
Second, their sanctity — Third, the practice of true 

■ Christians in every age— Were the Fathers of the 
Church great geniuses? 

November 27th. 

My Dear Friexd: 

In ordinary cases, the exterior circumstan- 
ces play an important part. They often have 
the value of direct testimonies in contributing 
to form the opinion of judges. You know 
that they thus examine the antecedents, 
position, and moral character of persons 
interested in the debate, Why should we 
pass them over in the case which occupies us? 
Therefore, before adducing the motives of 
the early Christians drawn from the very 
nature of the Sign of the Cross, let us 
examine together the prepossessions which 
militate in favor of their conduct. 

First prepossession in favor of the early 
Christians; — They were contemporary with 

35 



36 



The Sign of the Cross 



the apostles. The apostles had conversed 
with the Incarnate Word Himself, the Truth 
in person. They had seen Him with their 
eyes and touched Him with their hands. They 
were the depositaries and infallible organs 
of His doctrine. They had been commanded 
to teach it fully and entirely, nothing more, 
nothing less. 

In their turn, the primitive Christians had 
seen and heard the apostles, and their 
disciples. From their lips they had received 
the faith, from their hands, baptism. They 
had imbibed truth at its very fountain. With 
this truth, to which they owed everything, 
they nourished themselves ; they made it the 
rule of all their actions, and preserved it with 
inviolable fidelity ; perseverantes in doctrina 
apostolorum. Evidently, none have had better 
opportunities of knowing the thoughts of the 
apostles, and even of our Saviour Himself. 

If then the primitive Christians made the 
Sign ol the Cross at every instant, we are 
forced to conclude that they obeyed an 
apostolic recommendation ; otherwise the 
apostles and their immediate successors, the 
infallible guardians of the triple deposit 
of faith, morals, and discipline, would have 
speedily interdicted a useless and supersti- 



In the Nineteenth Century. 37 



tious custom, so well calculated to expose the 
neophytes to the mockery of the ignorant 
pagans. Therefore, I repeat it, in making so 
frequently the Sign of the Cross, the Chris- 
tians of the primitive Church acted on very 
good reasons. This is the first prepossession 
in favor of their conduct. 

Second prepossession in favor of the primi- 
tive Christians : — Their sanctity. 

Not only were they well instructed in the 
doctrine of the apostles, but they were, more- 
over, most faithful to put it in practice. The 
proof of this is that they were very holy. 
Nothing is more clearly established, than that 
a high degree of sanctity was the general 
character of the early Christians. 

First; they preferred to lose everything, 
their property and life itself in the midst of 
tortures, rather than offend God. Their hero- 
ism lasted as long as the persecutions, that is, 
for three centuries. 

Secondly, they were very charitable. Hea- 
ven and earth have united in eulogizing their 
mutual love, unparalleled in the annals of the 
world. They had but one heart and one soul: 
Cor unum et anima una, has God himself said. 
Behold how they love one another, and how 

ready they are to die for one another ! Vide 
4 



38 



The Sign of the Cross 



ut invicum se diligant et ut pro alterutro moid 
sint parati! exclaimed the pagans. 

Thirdly, they were filled with respectful 
love for the apostles, whom they obeyed with 
filial submission. 

St. Paul, who paid no compliments, writes to 
the Christians of Rome, that their faith is cel- 
ebrated throughout the entire world; and to 
those of Asia, that they loved him so much, 
that had it been possible, they would have 
plucked out their eyes to give them to him. 
At his request, all the churches fly to the help 
of the brethren of Jerusalem, and Philemon 
receives Onesimus. 

Fourthly, the Fathers of the Church, who 
were eye-witnesses, have continually rendered 
the most brilliant testimony to their sanctity. 
Addressing himself to the judges, praetors, 
and proconsuls of the Empire, Tertullian gave 
them this solemn challenge: "I appeal to 
your law processes, magistrates charged with 
the administration of justice. Among the 
multitudes of accused who are daily arraigned 
at the bar of your tribunals, is there a poi- 
soner, an assassin, a profaner, a corrupter, or 
a thief, who is a Christian ? It is your people 
who fill your prisons; it is yours that fill the 
mines; it is yours that fatten the beasts of 



Iii the Nineteenth Century, 



39 



the amphitheatre, it is yours who form your 
troops of gladiators. Among them there is 
not one Christian, unless he be there for the 
sole crime of Christianity/' * 

Fifthly, the pagan historians recognized 
their innocence, and their very persecutors 
rendered homage to their virtue. Tacitus, 
that author far too exacting and unjust with 
regard to our fathers, relates the frightful 
butchery of the Christians under Nero. "An 
immense multitude," says he, "multitude) in- 
gens, perished amid the most frightful tor- 
ments. They were innocent of that with 
which they were charged, but they were 
worthy of the hatred of mankind, odio generis 
kumani." Behold the word ! 

What was this mankind of Tacitus? He 
himself tells us: — It was living filth, living 
cruelty. What caused its hatred ? Because 
evil is the irreconcilable enemy of good. The 
sanctity of our fathers w T as the relentless 
condemnation ol the monstrous crimes with 
which the pagans sullied themselves. Thence 
came Nero's butchers and his living torches. 

Forty years after Nero, Pliny the Younger, 
governor of Bithynia, is charged by Trajan to 
inform against the Christians. Zealous cour- 



*Apol., c. 44. 



4o 



The Sign of the Cross 



tier, he rigorously executes his master's orders, 
and causes our ancestors to be sought after. 
When put to the torture, he himself interro- 
gates them. What is the result of his bloody 
proceedings ? " All the crime of the Chris- 
tians," writes he to Trajan, " consists in as- 
sembling together on a certain day before 
dawn, in order to sing the praises of Christ 
as of a God; in binding themselves by oath 
not to commit any crime, but to fly theft, rob- 
bery, adultery and perjury. I have caused 
them to be put to the torture, and have found 
them guilty of nothing but an evil and ex- 
cessive superstition. " * 

I have been expatiating, my dear Frederic, 
on the sanctity of our ancestors. In my mind, 
it forms the most powerful prepossession in 
favor of the Sign of the Cross. When men 
of this character, living in the face of death, 
show themselves invariably faithful to a usage, 
it must be that that usage is a little more im- 
portant than your new companions believe. 

Third prepossession in favor of the primi- 
tive Christians: — The practice of true Chris- 
tians in the following centuries. 

At a very early period there began to be 
formed, both in the East and in the West, 

*Epist., lib. x, epist. 97. 



In the Nineteenth Cenhtry. 41 



religious communities of men and of women. 
It is in those asylums, separated from the 
world, that we find the true spirit of the Gos- 
pel and the pure tradition of apostolic teach- 
ings, if not permanent, at least perpetuated 
with the greatest fidelity. The Sign of the 
Cross figures among the number of ancient 
customs preserved with jealous care. 

" Our fathers, the ancient monks," writes 
one of their historians, " practised the Sign 
of the Cross most frequently and religiously. 
They made it principally at rising, retiring to 
bed, before their work, in coming out of their 
cells and the monastery, or returning into it ; 
they made it at table, over the bread, the 
wine and every dish."* 

In the world, in like manner, we find the 
traditional usage of this saving sign. All 
those great men, who, during more than five 
hundred years succeeded one another in the 
East and in the West; those incompara- 
ble geniuses whom we call the Fathers of 
the Church — Tertullian, Cyprian, Athanasiuj, 
Gregory, Basil, Augustin, Chrysostom, Jer- 
ome, Ambrose, and so many others who swell 
the list so terrible to pride, which it crushes 
by its weight; all those great intelligences 

*Martene. De antiq. monach. ritib.j Lib. i, c. i, n. 25, etc. 

4* 



42 



The Sign of the Cross 



practised the Sign of the Cross most assid- 
uously, and they incessantly recommended all 
Christians to make it on every occasion. 

I have called the Fathers of the Church 
great genuises and great men. If, as such, 
you compare them to your companions, ex- 
pect a smile of pity; be not angry with them. 
Poor young men! They know the Fathers 
of the Church as they know their antipodes. 
In your turn, ask them what they understand 
by great men. In default of their reply, here 
is mine; it may be useful to you. 

I call great men those, who, by the eleva- 
tion, depth and extent of their genius, embrace 
the immense horizons of the world of truth; 
who know sciences, men, and things, not on 
the surface, but in their principles, end, and 
intimate nature ; not only the matter below, 
but the spirit above; not only the man, but 
the angel ; not only the creature, but the 
Creator; not only what is on this side of the 
grave, but what is beyond it ; not one detail, 
but the whole; not one isolated law of 
creation, but the whole system, from which 
they cause to spring unexpectedly, luminous 
applications for the perfection of humanity. 
Behold genius, and behold the Fathers of the 
Church! You can challenge your compan- 



In the Nmetemth Century* 



43 



ions to find among the ancients or modern, 
any who have verified better, or as well, the 
definition of a great man. 

However renowned they may be in oartio 
ular departments, in chemistry, physic, me- 
chanics, or art, they are neither geniuses 
nor great geniuses. The man whose ideas 
embrace only one law, secondary to universal 
harmonv, deserves not the name of genius: 
no one calls great the musician who can draw 
but one sound from his instrument, but only 
him who strikes harmoniously every chord. 

Time does not permit me to finish my 
letter to-night; I will resume it to-morrow. 



THIRD LETTER. 



Continuation of the third prepossession: the doctors of 
the East and the West — Constantine, Theodosius, Charle- 
magne, St. Louis, Bayard, Don John of Austria, Sobieski — 
Fourth prepossession: the conduct of the Church — Fifth, 
those who do not ilake the slgn of the cross — sum mary. 

November 28 th. 

Now, then, my dear friend, all those great 
geniuses, without any exception, made the 
Sign of the Cross like little children. 

They made it frequently, and unceasingly 
recommended Christians to make use of it on 
every occasion. "To make the Sign of the 
Cross," says one of them, "over those who 
place their hope in Jesus Christ, is the first 
and best known thing amongst us, privmm 
est et notissimum. * Another: "The Cross is 
found everywhere ; with princes and their 
subjects, with men and women, with slaves 
and freemen ; and all mark it on the most 
noble part of the body, the forehead. . . . t 



* S. Basil. De. Sp. & c. xxvii. 

44 



The Sign of the Cross. 



45 



Never cross the threshold of your houses 
without savin p*. / renounce Sedan, and devote 
myself to Jesus Christ ; accompanying these 
words with the Sign of the Cross : cum hoe 
verba et cruce7n in fronte imprtmas* 

Another says: "We should make the Sign 
of the Cross at each action of the day, Omne 
diei opus in signo facere Salvatoris!^ Others 
again : " Let the Sign of the Cross be con- 
tinually made on the heart, on the mouth, on 
the forehead, at table, at the bath, in bed, 
coming in and going out, in joy and sadness, 
sitting, standing, speaking, walking ; in short, 
in all our actions, verbo dicam in ovini negotio. 
Let us make it on our breasts and all our 
members, that we may be entirely covered 
with this invincible armor of Christians; arme- 
mur hac insuperabili christianorum armatitra.% 

Even to their last sigh, confirming their 
words by their example, we see those great 
geniuses die, like the illustrious Chrysostom, 
the king of eloquence, in making the Sign of 
the Cross. Formed in their school, the 
noblest Christians follow in their footsteps. 

* S. Chrys., Quod Christies sit Deus ; et Ho mil. xxi, ad 
popul. Antioch, t S. Arnbr., Ser. XLII1. 

% S. Gaudent. episc Brixien., Trait cle led evang ; S. Cyril. 
Hief., Cateck., ii\ n. 14: S. Ephrem, de Panoplia. 



4 6 



The Sign of the Cross 



Speaking of St. Paula, the grand-daughter 
of the Scipios, Saint Jerome says : " When 
she was at the point of death, and we could 
with difficulty hear her speak, she placed her 
thumb on her mouth, and, faithful to usage, 
imprinted the Sign of the Cross upon her 
lips."* 

Let us go back some centuries, and point 
out some brilliant links in the traditional 
chain. Without speaking of those immortal 
emperors, legislators, and warriors, Constan- 
tine, Theodosius and Charlemagne, so faith- 
ful to the use of the Sign of the Cross, let us 
come to the greatest of our kings, St. Louis. 
His friend and historian, the Sire de Joinville, 
has left us the following testimony : " At 
table, in the council, in the combat, and in 
every action, the king always began by the 
Sign of the Cross. "+ Bayard, the knight 
" without fear and without reproach," is mor- 
tally wounded. Worthy of his life, his last 
act is the Sign of the Cross, which he makes 
with his sword. Represented by two fleets 
of more than four hundred ships, the Catholic 
and Mussulman powers meet each other in 
the Gulf of Lepanto. On the combat de- 
pends the safety of civilization or the triumph 



* Ad Eu^toeh. De epiiapl^ Pauhe. 



f Vic. c. xv. 



In the Nineteenth Century. 47 



of barbarism. The destinies of Europe are 
in the hands of Don John of Austria. Before 
giving the signal for attack, the Christian 
hero makes the Sign of the Cross. All the 
commanders repeat it, and Islamism suffers 
a defeat from which it never recovers. 

Nevertheless, a century later, it tries to 
repair its defeat. Its innumerable hordes 
advance even to the walls of Vienna. Sobi- 
eski is called. Compared with those of the 
enemy, his forces are nothing. But Sobieski 
is a Christian. Before descending into the 
plain, he makes the Sign of the Cross on his 
army; he himself forms a living sign, by 
hearing Mass with his arms extended in the 
form of the Cross. It was there, says a Chris- 
tian warrior, that the Grand Vizier was over- 
come. 

I should never conclude, my dear friend, 
were I to cite, one after the other, all the 
facts which prove the perpetuity and frequent 
use of the Sign of the Cross among the true 
Christians of every age and condition, in the 
world as in the cloister; in the East as in the 
West. Does not this glorious tradition form 
a passably respectable proof in favor of our 
ancestors of the primitive Church? What 
do your young companions think of it? 



48 The Sign of the Cross 



Fourth prepossession in favor of the primi- 
tive Christians: — The usage of the Church. 
Ages roll by, and with the times, men change. 
Laws, customs, fashions, language, manners 
of seeing and judging, all are modified. The 
Church alone changes not. Immutable as 
truth, of which she is the mistress, that which 
she taught, that which she did yesterday, she 
teaches, she does to-day; she will teach, she 
will do to-morrow and always. 

What are her thoughts, what is her con- 
duct with regard to the Sign of the Cross? 
There is no point on which her divine im- 
mutability is more clearly manifested. For 
eighteen centuries we mav sav the Church 
has lived on the Sign of the Cross. She has 
not, for a single instant, ceased to employ it. 
She commences, continues, finishes every- 
thing by this sign. Among all her practices, 
the Sign of the Cross is the principal, the 
most ordinary, the most familiar. It is the soul 
of her exorcisms, prayers and benedictions. 

What we see her do in our sight, in our 
basilicas, she did in that of our fathers in 
the Catacombs. "Without the Sign of the 
Cross," say they, "nothing is done validly, 
nothing is perfect, nothing is holy."* 

* S. Cjpr. De bapt. ckr. — S. Aug., Tract 128, in Joan., n. 5. 



In the Nineteenth Century. 



49 



The power of the Church, like that of hei 
divine Founder, is exercised on creatures, 
and on man. It extends to heaven and earth: 
Data est mi hi omnis potestas in cce/o et in 
terra. How does she exercise it? By the 
Sign of the Cross. All that she destines for 
her use — water, salt, bread, wine, fire, stone, 
wood, oil, balm, linen, silk, brazen figures, 
precious metals — all that belongs to her 
children ; their dwellings, fields, flocks, imple- 
ments of labor, the inventions of their 
industry — she takes possession of all by the 
Sign of the Cross. 

If she wishes to prepare an earthly dwell- 
ing for the God of heaven, first of all, the 
Sign of the Cross must consecrate the site 
of the edifice. "Let no one," say the Coun- 
cils, " dare to build a Church without calling 
the Bishop to the place, that he may make 
the Sign of the Cross" there, in order to 
chase away the demons.* 

The Sign of the Cross is the first thing she 
employs to bless the materials of the temple. 
She traces it twenty times upon the pave- 
ment, on the pillars, on the altar. To render 
it permanent, she makes it of iron, and places 
it on the summit of the edifice. When her 



* Novella V. paragraph 1. Cop. Nemo de Consecrat. dist. 1. 



50 The Sign of the Cross 



children come into the house of God, what 
do they do before crossing the threshold? 
Thev make the Siom of the Cross. 

J o 

By what do the chiefs of prayer, the bish- 
ops and priests, begin to celebrate the praises 
of the Most High? By the Sign of the 
Cross. 

" When at the beg-inning- f the Office we 
make the Sign of the Cross, saying the words, 
God, collie to my aid, it is as if we would 
say," writes an ancient liturgist, "thy Cross, 
O Lord, is our help; the hand makes to thee 
the Sign of it, and the tongue prays to thee 
in it. The demon is the chief of the enemies 
of our salvation ; he governs the world, he 
flatters the flesh in order to allure us. If 
then, O Lord, thou wilt aid us by thy Cross, 
he and all our enemies shall be put to 
flight;'* 

See principally the conduct of the Church 
towards man, the living temple of the Blessed 
Trinity. The first thine she makes over him 
after his birth is the Sign of the Cross ; the 
last, when he returns to the bosom of the 
earth is ag-ain the Sigm G f the Cross. Behold 
her first greeting, and her last farewell to the 
child of her tender affection ! 



* Reasons for the Office, etc. p. 270. 



In the Nineteenth Century. 51 

Within the time that intervenes between 
the cradle and the grave, how many times is 
the Sign of the Cross made on man ? 

At his baptism, in which he is made the 
child of God, the Sign of the Cross; at his 
Confirmation, in which he becomes the soldier 
of virtue, the Sign of the Cross ; in the Holy 
Eucharist, in which he is fed with the bread 
of angels, the Sign of the Cross ; in Extreme 
Unction, in w r hich he is strengthened for the 
last combat, the Sign of the Cross; in Holy 
Orders and Matrimony, in which he is asso- 
ciated to the paternity of God Himself, the 
Sign of the Cross. Always and everywhere, 
now as in former times, in the East as in the 
West, the Sign of the Cross is made on man.* 

All this is yet nothing. Behold what the 
Church does, when, in the person of the 
priest, she ascends the altar. Armed with 
omnipotence which has been given her, she 
comes to command, no longer a creature, but 
the Creator ; no longer a man, but God. At 
her voice, the heavens are opened; the Word 
again becomes incarnate, and renews all the 
mysteries of His life, death, and resurrection. 
Is there an act which ought to be performed 



* S. Chrys., in Math, homil. 54, n. 4. 8. Angus, in Joan, 
tract., 128, n. 5. 



52 The Sign of the Cross 



with more solemn gravity? an act from which 
should be more carefully banished everything 
that might be foreign or superfluous? 

Now, in the course of this, the action, by 
excellence, the Church, more than ever, mul- 
tiplies the Sign of the Cross; she clothes 
herself with the Sign of the Cross; she goes 
through it with the Sign of the Cross ; she 
repeats it so frequently, that the number of 
times would seem to be exaggerated, were it 
not so profoundly mysterious. Do you know 
how many times the priest makes the Sign of 
the Cross during Mass? He makes it forty- 
eight times! I am wrong; throughout the 
whole of the august sacrifice, the priest is 
himself a living Sign of the Cross. 

And the Catholic Church, the grave teacher 
of nations, the great mistress of truth, does 
she amuse herself by repeating so frequently 
in her most solemn act, a sign, useless, 
superstitious, or of minor importance? If 
your companions believe this, they are wrong 
to call themselves unbelievers: it is not cre- 
dulity that is wanting to them. 

The conduct of the Church and of true 
Christians in every age, is, then, a victorious 
prepossession in favor of our primitive an- 
cestors. 



In the Nineteenth Century. 53 



Fifth prepossession in favor of the early 
Christians:- — Those who do not make the Sign 
of the Cross. 

There are on earth six classes of beings 
that do not make the Sign of the Cross. 
First, pagans : — the Chinese, Hindoos, Thibe- 
tans, Hottentots, and the savages of Oceanica, 
adorers of monstrous idols, nations most 
deeply degraded, yet not the less unhappy — 
they do not make the Sign of the Cross. 

Second, the Mahometans: swine by sensu- 
ality, tigers by cruelty, automata, by fatalism, 
— they do not make the Sign of the Cross. 

Third, the Jews : — deeply encrusted with 
a thick layer of superstition, the living petri- 
faction of a fallen race — they do not make 
the Sign of the Cross. 

Fourth, Heretics : — impertinent sectaries, 
who have pretended to reform the work of 
God, who, in punishment of their pride, have 
lost even the last remnant of truth. 

" I affirm," said one of your Prussian min- 
isters lately, " that I could write on my thumb 
nail all that remains among" Protestants of 
common belief:" — Protestants do not make 
the Sign of the Cross. 

Fifth, bad Catholics, renegades to their 
baptism, slaves of human respect, haughty in 



54 



The Sign of the Cross 



their ignorance, who speak of everything, yet 
know nothing ; adorers of the Q;od of their 
belly, of the god of the flesh, of the god of 
matter; whose private life is like a sullied 
garment — -thev do not make the Sign of the 
Cross. 

Sixth, beasts, bipeds and quadrupeds of 
all kinds : — dogs, cats, asses, mules, camels, 
owls, crocodiles, oysters, hippopotamuses — 
thev do not make the Sign of the Cross. 

J o 

Such are the six classes of beings that do 
not make the Sign of the Cross. 

If, before tribunals, the moral character of 
the plaintiffs or defendants contributes pow- 
erfully to form the opinions of the judges, 
even before the examination of the cause, I 
leave you to judge whether the character of 
the beings who do not make the Sign of the 
Cross is a small prepossession in favor of 
the early Christians. 

In a word, with regard to the frequent use 
of the Sign of the Cross, the world is divided 
into two opposite parties. 

For it: — The admirable Christians of the 
primitive Church ; the holiest and greatest 
geniuses of the East and the West; the true 
Christians of every age ; the Church herself, 
the Mistress of truth. 



In the Nineteenth Century, 



55 



Against ///—Pagan, Mahometans, Jews, 
Heretics, bad Catholics, and beasts. 

It seems to me that you can already decide; 
moreover, your convictions shall be more 
strongly confirmed, when you learn the mo- 
tives which justify the one, and condemn the 
other. 

I will reveal them in the following letters, 




FOURTH LETTER. 



Answer to one objection, the times are changed — Reasons 
in favor of the primitive Christians, drawn from the 
very nature of the slgn of the cross — tlie slgn of the 
Cross is five things — A divine sign which ennobles man 
—Proofs that it is divine. 

November 22th. 

"As for me," I hear you say, my dear 
Frederic, "the question is decided. Never 
will I believe that God has given truth and 
good sense to His enemies, and at the same 
time condemned his best friends to error 
and superstition." 

This avowal rejoices, yet does not surprise 
me. Your mind seeks the truth, and your 
heart does not reject it. If all were in the 
like dispositions, the apologist's task would 
be easy. Unfortunately, it is otherwise. In 
the greater part of controversies, particularly 
religious controversies, men argue not ac- 
cording to reason, but according to their 
passions. They combat, not for truth, but 
for victory. Sad victory, which more strongly 

56 ' 



The Sign of the Cross, 



57 



confirms them in the slavery of error and 
vice! 

What I know of your companions, and so 
many other pretended Catholics of our day, 
gives me reason to fear they are ambitious 
for this fatal victory alone. I love them too 
much not to contest it with them. In order 
to remove the bandage with which they cover 
their eyes, as well as to strengthen yet more 
your own convictions, I shall expose the 
intrinsic reasons which justify the inviolable 
fidelity of true Christians to the frequent use 
of the Sign of the Cross. 

Let us first do justice to the great object 
of modern contemners of the adorable Sign. 
" Other times, other manners," say they. 
"What was useful, nay, even necessary in 
the first ages of the Church, is not so now. 
Times are changed; we must live according 
to the manners of the day." 

St Paul answers them: Jesus Christ yester- 
day, and to-day and the same forever. 

Tertullian adds : The Incarnate Word calls 
Himself Truth, and not Citstom. Truth, then 
changes not. What the apostles, the Chris- 
tians of the primitive Church, and the true 
Christians of every age have held to be use- 
ful, and to a certain extent, even necessary* 



53 



The Sign of the Cross 



has not now ceased to be so. I dare even 
affirm it to be more necessary now than ever. 

This is on account of the many points of 
resemblance which exist between the situa- 
tion of the primitive Christians, and that of 
the Christians of the nineteenth century. 

What was the situation of our forefathers 
of the primitive Church? They were in the 
midst of a w r orld which was not Christian, 
which did not wish to become so, and which 
persecuted those who persisted in being so. 

And are not we in the midst of a world 
that is losing Christianity, that does not wish 
to return to it, and that persecutes, sometimes 
by violence, those who persist in professing it? 

If, in a like situation, the first Christians, 
formed in the school of the apostles, regarded 
as necessary the frequent use of the Sign of 
the Cross, why should we abandon it ? Are 
we stronger or more skilful ? Are our dan- 
gers less great, our enemies less numerous 
or perfidious ? To propose such questions 
is to decide them. Let us proceed. 

Until now, my dear Frederic, I have estab- 
lished only the exterior circumstances of the 
cause : it is necessary now to examine it in 
its depth, by adducing reasons drawn from 
the very nature of the Sign of the Cross, 



In the Nineteenth Century. 59 



For you, for me, for all sensible men, they 
may be summed up as follows : — We are 
children of the dust, the Sign of the Cross is 
a divine Sign, which ennobles us ; we are 
ignorant, it is a book which instructs us; poor, 
it is a treasure which enriches us ; soldiers, 
it is a weapon which puts the enemy to flight ; 
travellers on the way to heaven, it is a guide 
that conducts us. 

Assume the insignia of a judge, ascend 
your tribunal, and hear the cause. 

We are children of the dust ; the Sign of 
the Cross is a divine sign, which ennobles us. 

Tell me who is that being that comes into 
the world weeping; who crawls like the worm, 
who, like the smallest animal is subject to 
every infirmity, and for even a longer time 
than it, is incapable of supplying his own 
wants ? 

Let the man who is called prince, king, or 
emperor ; the woman who is called countess, 
duchess, or empress, be not too proud. 

One glance backward will tell them who 
that being is : it is man ; a worm of the earth 
in the cradle, the food of worms in the tomb.* 

That being so low, so useless, and during 
the first stages of his existence, so ignomini- 



* Sap. vii. ? 34. — Plutarch, Lib, de amove prolis. 



6o 



The Sign of the Cross 



ously confounded with the weakest and vilest 
of animals, is, moreover, but too much in- 
clined by his instincts to resemble them. 
Nevertheless, that being- is the image of God, 
the king of creation; he must not degrade 
himself. God touches him on the forehead, 
and imprints a Divine Sign which ennobles 
him. Nobility imposes obligations. Respec- 
ted by others, he will respect himself. This 
patent of nobility, this divine mark, is the 
Sign of the Cross. It is divine, since it 
comes from heaven, since the owner alone 
has the right to stamp his property with his 
image. It comes from heaven, since earth 
avows that it did not invent it. Go through 
everv country and even' age, nowhere will 

J J JO 3 

you find the man that invented it, the saint 
that taught it, the council that imposed it. 
" Tradition teaches it," says Tertullian, "cus- 
tom confirms it, faith practices it."* 

In Tertullian you hear the latter part of 
the second century of the Church. Saint 
Justin speaks for the first, and teaches not 
only the existence of the Sign of the Cross, 
but the manner in which it was made.t Be- 
hold us in those primitive times, days of 
eternal memory, called even by heretics the 



* Tertul., De Coron. Mil. } c. iii. 



t Quaest. US. 



In the Nineteenth Century. 



61 



" Golden Age" of Christianity, on account of 
the purity of its doctrine, and the sanctity 
of its morals. Here, then, we find the Sign 
of the Cross in full practice, in the East and 
the West. 

Let us go back a few steps and we shall 
clasp hands with St. John, the last survivor 
of the apostles. See the venerable old man, 
making the Sign of the Cross over the pois- 
oned cup, and drinking the deadly liquor 
with impunity.* 

A few steps farther, and we meet his 
illustrious colleagues, Peter and Paul. Like 
John, the beloved disciple of the divine 
Master, Peter and Paul, the princes of the 
apostles, make religiously the Sign of the 
Cross, and teach it from the East to the 
West, in Jerusalem, Antioch, Athens, and 
Rome, to Greeks and barbarians. Let us 
listen to an unexceptionable witness of tradi- 
tion. "Paul," says Saint Augustin, " carries 
everywhere the royal standard of the Cross. 
He fishes for men, and Peter marks the 
nations with the Sign of the Cross. 

They make it not only over men, but also 
over inanimate creatures, and cause others 
to do the same. "Every creature of God 



* S. Simeon, Metaph. in Joan. 

6 



t Semi, ssviii. 



62 



The Sign of the Cross 



is good," writes the great Apostle, "and 
nothing to be rejected that is received with 
thanksgiving; for it is sanctified by the word 
of God and prayer." * 

Such is the rule. What is the sense? In 
the study of law, if we meet with an obscure 
passage, what do we do? To elucidate it, we 
consult the interpreter best authorized and 
nearest to the legislator ; his word is law. 

Listen to the best authorized interpreter of 
St. Paul, the great Chrysostom. " Paul," says 
he, " here establishes two things ; the first, 
that no creature is unclean ; the second, that 
supposing it to be so, the means of cleansing 
it is at hand. Make the Sign of the Cross 
over it, render thanks and glory to God, and 
at the same instant, all uncleanness shall 
disappear," f Behold apostolic teaching! 

The princes of the apostles made the Sign 
of the Cross not only over inanimate crea- 
tures, and the multitudes who received the 
faith from them, but on themselves also. 
This sign, then, existed before them. Paul 
the persecutor, is thrown down on the road 
to Damascus. He must become the apostle 
of the God whom he pursues. What will be 
the first act of that victorious God? To 



*1 Tim. iv. 4. 5. 



f In Tim., Homih xii. 



In the Nineteenth Century* 63 

mark the vanquished with the Sign of the 
Cross. "Go," says He to Ananias, "go, and 
mark him with my sign."* 

Who then is the author and institutor of 
the Sign of the Cross? To find him we must 
go beyond all ages, all visible creatures, all 
angelic hierarchies; we must rise to the 
Eternal Word, the Truth in person, 

Listen a^ain to a witness who w r as so sit- 
uated as to know it perfectly, a witness so 
irreproachable that he has sealed his testi- 
mony with his blood. I mean Saint Cyprian, 
the immortal Bishop of Carthage. " O Lord, 
Holy Priest," exclaims he, " thou hast be- 
queathed to us three imperishable things: the 
chalice of thy blood, the Sign of the Cross, 
and the example of thy sufferings. "f 

Saint Augustin adds: "It is thou that hast 
willed this Sign should be imprinted on our 
foreheads."J 

It would be easy to cite twenty other wit- 
nesses, but as I am writing letters and not 
books, I will stop. The Sign of the Cross is 
a Divine Sign: this is the first fact established 
in the discussion. There is another, of which 
I shall speak to-morrow. 



* S. Aug. serm. I. et xxv. de Sanctis. 

t Ser. de Pass. Chr. J In ps. 130. 



FIFTH LETTER. 

The Sign of the Cross ennobles us — It is the exclusive Sigu 
of the elite of humanity — It is the escutcheon of Catho- 
licity— What a Catholic is — By ennobling us, the Sign of 
the Cross teaches us the respect due to ourselves — Im- 
portance of this lesson — Disgrace of those who do not 
make this Sign — Picture of the contempt they have fou 
themselves. 

November 30th. 

I have added, my dear Frederic, that the 
Sign of the Cross is a Sign which ennobles. 
It ennobles us because it is divine. All that 
is divine is ennobling. This reason alone 
might dispense with every other, nevertheless, 
I add that it ennobles us, because it is the 
exclusive Si^n of the elite of humanity. Have 
your companions ever reflected on this? 

All who do not make the Sign of the Cross, 
and much more, all who are so unfortunate 
as to blush at it, remain confounded with 
Pagans, Mahometans, Jews, Heretics, bad 
Catholics and beasts, that is to say, with the 
very dregs of creation. What do you think 
of this? Have we not reason to be proud 

6 4 



The Sign of the Cross, 



65 



of that which distinguishes us from those who 
do not bear it? 

A child is proud of belonging to a family 
venerable for its antiquity, illustrious for its- 
services, respected for its virtue, powerful, 
by its riches. Again, how jealous he is of 
his escutcheon ! He carves it in stone, mar- 
ble, silver, gold, agate or ruby ; he engraves 
it on his dwelling, sculptures it on his furni- 
ture, enchases it on his plate, and marks it on 
his linen ; he bears it on his seal, would wish 
to carry it on his forehead. It is painted on 
the panels of his carriage, and even the har- 
ness of his horses is decorated with it. Leav- 
ing vanity aside, he is right. His conduct 
proclaims the eminently social law of solidar- 
ity. The glory of their forefathers is the 
glory of the children ; it is the family patri- 
mony. 

Being a Catholic, the Sign of the Cross is 
my escutcheon. It proclaims to me and to 
every one, the nobility of my race, its anti- 
quity, its services, its glories and its virtues. 
And I not be proud of it! I should then 
deny the illustrious blood that courses through 
my veins! Unworthy to bear a great name, 
I should basely repudiate the law of solidarity, 
throw my coat-of-arms into the mire, and cast 

1 . 6* 



66 



The Sign of the Cross 



to the winds the rich inheritance of my ances- 
tors. 

Men are proud of belonging to an aristo 
cratic nation. The Spaniard is proud of being 
Spanish; the Englishman, of being English; 
the Frenchman of being French, and so with 
other great nations. 

Tell me, my friend, which is the grandest, 
the most aristocratic nation on the globe. 

It is a nation more ancient, and which in 
itself alone, has a greater number of citizens 
than all those I have named; a nation, which 
by its light, shines in the world like the sun 
in the firmament; a nation essentially expan- 
sive, which, at the price of its blood, has drawn 
the human race out of barbarism, and, at the 
same price, prevents it from falling back into 
it again, as is proved by history and the map 
of the world; a nation among whose children 
alone are found all that man has known as 
great bv genius, virtue, science and courage; 
whole legions of doctors, virgins, martyrs, 
orators, poets, philosophers and artists; the 
great legislators, good kings, and illustrious 
warriors in every part of the world ; a nation 
so much the more aristocratic, that to her all 
others owe their superiority. No matter what 
may be sajd or done, history points this out 



In the Nineteenth Century, 67 



as the great Catholic nation. I belong to it. 
The Sign of the Cross is its escutcheon, and 
shall I be ashamed of it? 

God Himself has deigned to show by strik- 
ing miracles, how honored in His sight are 
the person and the member that make the 
Sign of the Cross, 

Saint Editha, daughter of Edgar, King of 
England, from her very infancy, bore the 
Sign of the Cross in her heart. This little 
princess, one of the most beautiful flowers of 
virginity that have adorned the former Isle of 
Saints, did nothing without first making this 
salutary sign on her forehead and breast, 

Having caused a church to be built in 
honor of St. Dionysius, she begged St. Dun- 
stan, archbishop of Canterbury, to come to 
dedicate it. He did so willingly, and in 
several interviews which he had with the 
Saint, he was struck at seeing- her make so 
frequently the Sign of the Cross on her 
forehead with the thumb, according to the 
custom of the early Christians. 

This devotion pleased him so much, that 
he begged God to bless that thumb, and 
even to preserve it from the corruption of 
the grave. His prayer was granted. 

The Saint died soon after, at the age of 



68 



The Sign of the Cross 



twenty-three years, and, appearing to the 
holy bishop, said: " Raise my body from the 
tomb. You will find it incorrupt, with the 
exception of those members, of which, in the 
levity of my childhood, I made a bad use," 

Those members w r ere her eves, feet and 
hands, which, in effect, were found to be 
decayed, except the thumb, with which she 
had so often made the Sigrn of the Cross. * 

As regards the point of honor, were our 
ancestors wrong in making such frequent use 
of the Sign of the Cross ? Are we right in 
not making it? 

Alas! far different from ours was the pride 
of their nobility, the feeling of their dignity! 
By dwelling so much on the obligations of 
that dignity, I do not wonder at their having 
established a society, which, for the heroism 
of its virtues, is without parallel in the annals 
of the world: you will now begin to under- 
stand it. 

The first sentiment that the Sign of the 
Cross inspires us with, is respect for our- 
selves, because it ennobles us. Respect for 
ourselves! Dear friend, what a great thing 
I have said. I look around me ; I see an age, 
a world, a rising generation which talks in- 

* See her Life, viii. 



In the Nineteenth Century. 



6 9 



cessantly of the dignity of man, of emancipa- 
tion, of liberty. These words, either void of 
meaning, or filled with an evil one, render 
the age, the world, the generation, ungovern- 
able. Impatient of the yoke of all authority, 
divine, social, civil, or parental, they con- 
tinually cry out to all they meet: "Respect 
me!" 

Very good; but if you wish to be respected, 
begin by respecting yourself. The respect 
of others for us is proportioned to that which 
we have for ourselves. Cruelty, hypocrisy, 
debauchery, vice gilded, gloved, painted, 
plumed, spurred and crowned, may inspire 
fear, but can never win respect. Now, then, 
the man of the day, whether he be old or 
young, who does not make the Sign of the 
Cross, does he respect himself? Let us 
make a trial by autopsy. 

The noblest part of man is the soul; the 
noblest faculty of his soul is the intelligence. 
Precious vessel, formed by the hand of God 
Himself to receive truth, and nothing but the 
truth! all that is not truth defiles and pro- 
fanes it. Does the man of our day respect 
it? Is it truth that he deposits therein ? He 
has nothing but disgust for the pure sources 
whence it flows. Divine oracles, sermons, 



7o 



The Sign of the Cross 



books of asceticism, or Christian philosophy, 
fill him with loathing. 

If you descend into that baptized intelligence, 
you will think yourself to be in a storehouse 
of odds and ends. There you find jumbled 
together, pell-mell, ignorance, idle tales, frivo- 
lity, prejudices, lies, errors, doubts, objections, 
denial, impieties, silliness and trifles. A sad 
spectacle, which reminds me of an ostrich that 
died lately in Lyons. You know that in the 
autopsy, one of the stomachs of the stupid 
animal was found to be a regular storehouse 
of old iron, ends of ropes, and pieces ot 
wood. 

Such is the intellectual nourishment of 
the man who does not make the Sign of the 
Cross. Behold how he respects it! 

And his heart? Excuse me, my clear Fred- 
eric, from revealing to you its ignominy. Its 
emotions, instead of being directed upward, 
tend downward. Instead of soaring- like the 
eagle, it crawls like the worm; instead of 
feeding like the bee on the perfumed juice of 
flowers, like the stercorary fly it rests only on 
filth. There is no violation of the immaculate 
law from which it recoils, no pollution which 
it avoids; and, as you know that from the 
abundance of the heart the mouth speaks, the 



In the Nineteenth Century. 71 



throat is, like the vent-hole of a sepulchre, full 
of corruption.* 

And his body? Young man, who think it 
beneath you to make the Sign of the Cross, 
you believe yourself very clever; you are to be 
pitied. You think yourself independent; you 
are a slave. You refuse to honor yourself by 
doing what the elite of mankind do; by a just 
judgment, you shall dishonor yourself by the 
most shameful acts of the dregs of humanity. 

Your hand will not trace the Divine Sign 
on your forehead, but it will touch what it 
should never touch. 

You will not defend your eyes, lips, or 
breast with this protecting Sign; your eyes 
shall be sullied by looking at what they should 
never see ; your lips, talkative yet dumb, lo- 
quaces muti> as says a great genius,f shall say 
nothing that they should, and every thing they 
should not; your breast, a profane altar, shall 
burn with a fire the very name of which is a 
disgrace. This is private history. You can- 
not deny it; you cannot efface it. Written 
here with ink, it may be read on every part 
of your being, written with the blood of sin, 
in sanguine peccati. 



* Sepulcrum patens est guttur eorum. (Ps. v. 11.) 
t S. Aug. Med. xxxv. 2. 



7 2 



The Sign of the Cross 



And his life? The man who does not 
make, or who has ceased to make the Sign 
of the Cross, loses all esteem of his life. He 
despises it, he squanders it, for he never 
takes it in earnest. To turn night into day, 
and clay into night; to work little, sleep much, 
fare sumptuously; to refuse nothing to his 
appetites; to spend time without any regard 
to eternitv, that is to sav, in weaving- cob- 
webs, catching flies, and building card-castles; 
in a word, using his life as if he were the 
proprietor of it: this is not taking life in ear- 
nest. To take life in earnest, is to use it 
according to the will of Him who gave it to 
us, and who will demand a rigorous account 
of it, not as a whole, but in detail ; not by the 
year, but by the moment. 

When the despiser of the Divine Sign, 
which would ennoble his life by inspiring him 
with respect for his soul and body, is wearied 
with the ways of trifling and iniquity, what 
does he do ? Alas ! he but too often throws 
down life as an insupportable burden. Re- 
garding himself as a beast, for which there 
is neither fear nor hope beyond the grave, 
he kills himself. Here, my good Frederic, 
how can I express to you my sorrow ? That 
which the apostle, ravished with admiration, 



In the Nineteenth Century. 



said of the marvels of heaven, — that eye hath 
not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath it entered 
into the heart of man to conceive, — we must 
now say with fear, shame, and trembling. 
No ; at no epoch, in no climate, among no 
nation, not even pagans or cannibals, has 
man ever seen or heard, or his mind con- 
ceived, what we see, hear, and touch with our 
hands. What is it? Suicide. Suicide on a 
scale without example in history. In France 
alone, one hundred thousand within the last 
thirty years ! One hundred thousand ! And 
they continue still to increase! 

Now, I am almost certain, without having 
the proof, that of those hundred thousand 
persons who died in despair, more than ninety- 
nine thousand had lost the custom of making 
the Sign of the Cross frequently, seriously, 
and religiously. Hold this for the thirteenth 
article of your Creed. More to-morrow r . 



7 




SIXTH LETTER. 



Continuation of the preceding Letter — The Sign of the 
Cross is a book which instructs its — Creation. Redemp- 
tion, Glorification: three words which contain all 
the science of God, of man, and of the world — The 
Sign, of the Cross says these three words with au- 
thority, WITH CLEARNESS, WITH SUBLIMITY — It SAYS THEM 
TO EVERY ONE, EVERYWHERE, AND ALWAYS. 

December 1st. 

A Divine Sign, the distinctive mark of the 
elite of humanity, the escutcheon of the Catho- 
lic; such, my dear Frederic, is the Sign of the 
Cross, considered in its first point of view. 
If it be true that rank imposes obligation, I 
know of no means more simple, easy, and 
efficacious to inspire men with sentiments of 
dignity and respect for themselves, than the 
Sign of the Cross made frequently, seriously, 
and religiously. This is one of the reasons 
of its being. 

"This sign," says a Father of the Church, 
"is a powerful protection. It is gratuitous, 
because of the poor; easy, because of the 
weak. A benefit from God, the standard of 

74 



The Sign of the Cross, 



75 



the faithful, the terror of demons; far from 
causing you to despise it, its being a free 
gift should even increase your gratitude. "* 
I add, that its eloquence is equal to its 
power. 

What does it say to man ? We shall see. 
We are ignorant; the Sign of the Cross is a 
book which instructs us. Creation, Redemp- 
tion, Glorification; all science, theological, 
philosophical, social, political, historical, divine 
and human, is comprised in these three words. 
The science of the past, present and future, is 
here, and here only. These three words are 
the lights of the world, the bases of intelli- 
gence; suppose, for a moment, that the world 
forgets them, or loses their sense, what does 
it become? An agglomeration of atoms, 
moving in empty space, without direction or 
aim. It becomes blind without guide or staff; 
an inexplicable mystery to itself; unhappy 
without consolation; a galley-slave without 
hope: — behold man, behold society. 

These three words, Creation, Redemption, 
Glorification, are, then, more necessary to the 
human race than the bread which nourishes 
it, or the air that it breathes. They are neces- 
sary to every one, at every hour and always. 



* S. Cyril, Ilier., Catcch. xiii. 



76 



The Sig7i of the Cross 



They alone direct a life and every life, an 
action and every action, a word and every 
word, a thought and every thought, a joy and 
every joy, a sadness and every sadness, a 
sentiment and every sentiment This sup- 
posed, reason says that God owed it to Him- 
self to establish a means, universal, easy, and 
permanent, by which to give to all that funda- 
mental knowledge; to give it not once, and 
for a time only, but to renew it unceasingly, 
as He renews, at every instant, the air which 
we breathe. 

To what doctor shall be riven the charge 
of this indispensable teaching? To St. Paul, 
St. Augustin, St. Thomas, or any other great 
genius of the East or the West? No, those 
doctors die, and we must have one that is 
immortal. Those doctors dwell in a certain 
place, and we must have one that lives every- 
where. They speak a language that cannot 
be understood by all; we must have one who 
speaks intelligibly to every one, to the savage 
inhabitants of Oceanica, as well as to the 
civilized inhabitants of the old world. Who, 
then, shall be our teacher? You know it; it 
is the Sign of the Cross. It, and it only, 
fulfils all the requisite conditions. It never 
dies; it dwells everywhere; its language 



In the Nineteenth Century. 77 



is universal In an instant it can give its 
lesson; in an instant every one can under- 
stand it. 

In proof of what I assert, allow me, dear 
friend, to discover a mystery to you. The 
Incarnate Word, whom Isaias with reason 
calls the Teacher of mankind, had resolved to 
die for us. Many kinds of death were pre- 
sented to Him; stoning, decapitation, poison, 
being thrown from a high place, fire, water, 
and what not? Amongst all these, why did 
He choose the Cross ? A learned theologian 
answered this question many centuries ago. 
"One of the reasons why Infinite Wisdom 
has chosen the Cross, is because a slight 
motion of the hand is sufficient to trace upon 
us the instrument of the divine torture: 
bright and powerful Sign, which teaches us 
all that we have to know, and serves as a 
buckler against our enemies. 1 '* 

Behold the Sign of the Cross duly estab- 
lished as the catechist of mankind. Is it true, 
you ask, that it performs its functions well? 
in other words, that it repeats, and repeats in 
a becoming manner, the three great words, 
Creation, Redemption, Glorification ? Not 
only does it repeat them, but it explains them 

* Alcuin, De divin. Office^ e. xviii. 

6* 



7S 



The Sign of the Cross 



with an authority, sublimity, and clearness 
which belong to it alone. 

With authority — divine in its origin, it is 
the organ of God Himself. With sublimity 
and clearness — this you shall see presently. 
When you place your hand on your forehead 
while saying, "In the name" using only the 
singular number, the Sign of the Cross 
teaches you the indivisible unity of the Divine 
Essence. By this word alone, be you a child 
or servant-maid, you know more than all the 
philosophers of paganism. What progress in 
a single, momentary act! In saying, of the 
Father, what a new and immense ray of light 
in vour intellect ! The Si<*n of the Cross 
has told you that there is a Being, the Father 
of all fathers, the Eternal Principle of being, 
from whom proceed all creatures, celestial 
and terrestrial, visible and invisible.* At this 
new 7 word are dissipated the thick mists which 
during twenty centuries concealed from the 
eyes of the pagan world the origin of all 
things. 

You continue to say — and of the Son. The 
adorable sio-n also continues its teaching. It 
tells you that the Father of all fathers has a 
Son like Himself. While making you carry 

* Ephes. iii. 15. 



In the Nineteenth Century. 



79 



your hand to your breast, when you pro- 
nounce His name, it teaches you that this 
Eternal Son of God became in time the Son 
of man, in the womb of a Virgin, in order to 
redeem man. Man is then fallen 

What brilliant ligfht does this third word 
cause to rise upon your intellect! The co- 
existence of Q-ood and evil on the earth, the 
terrible duality which you feel within your- 
self, that mixture of noble instincts and base 
propensities, of sublime actions and shameful 
ones, the necessity of struggling , the possi- 
bility and means of rehabilitation, all those 
mysteries whose depth so long puzzled and 
perplexed the pagan philosophers, are no 
longer veiled from you. 

You conclude by saying — and of the Holy 
Ghost. This word completes the teachings 
of the Sign of the Cross Thanks to it, you 
know that there is in God, Unity of Essence 
and Trinity of Persons. You have a just 
idea of the Being by excellence, the com- 
plete Being. He would not be such, were 
He not one and three. If the First Person is 
necessarily Power, the Second necessarily 
Wisdom, the Third is necessarily Love. This 
Love, essentially beneficent, completes the 
work of the Father who creates, and of the 



80 The Sign of the Cross 

Son who redeems; He sanctifies man and 
conducts him to glory 

What clear teaching for the direction of 
the life of nations and individuals ; tor kings 
as well as for subjects! If Aristotle, Plato, 
Cicero, or any of those ancient seekers after 
truth; those philosophers, legislators, and 
moralists exhausted by study and tormented 
by insolvable doubts, had heard of a master 
who taught with the depth and sublimity 
of the Sign of the Cross, we may hold it 
as certain that they would have gone to 
the uttermost end of the world to see him, 
happy to spend their lives in listening to 
him. 

In pronouncing the name of the Holy 
Ghost, you have formed the Cross. You 
know not only the Redeemer, but the instru- 
ment of Redemption. Thus, while the Sign 
of the Cross inundates the mind with dazzling- 
lights, it also opens in the heart an inexhaus- 
tible source of love ; a new benefit, of which I 
shall speak hereafter. 

In the meantime, answer me — Is it pos- 
sible to teach in fewer words, with greater 
eloquence, and in more intelligible language, 
the three great dogmas of Creation, Redemp- 
tion, and Glorification, the pivots of the moral 



In the Nineteenth Century. 81 



world, the generating principles of the human 
intellect ? 

A being- created, a being destined for eter- 
nal glory, a being redeemed; — man, behold 
what you are ! 

What do you think of this, dear friend — is 
not this theology? But if theology is the 
science of God, of man, and of the world ; if 
philosophy, the rational knowledge of God, 
of man, and of the world, is the daughter of 
theology; if from theology and philosophy 
flow all sciences, politics, ethics, and history; 
it follows from this, that the Sign of the 
Cross is the most learned and the least 
diffuse doctor that has ever taught. 

Do you wish to know what place it holds 
in the world? I will tell you to-morrow, 



SEVENTH LETTEH. 



The place which the Sign of the Cross holds in the world 
— What the human race was before it knew how to 
make the slgn of the cross — what becomes of the world 
when it ceases to make it — another point of view: the 
Sign of the Cross is a treasure which enriches us. 

December 2J. 

Dear Friend : 

They who despise or contemn the Sign of 
the Cross have very little suspicion of the 
place it holds in the world. They belong to 
that class of persons so numerous in our day, 
who suspect nothing, because they doubt nothing. 

Lay aside, for a moment, your office of 
judge; give me your hand; let us make a 
brief tour through the ancient and modern 
worlds. Let us visit first, the brilliant ages 
of antiquity, in which men knew not how to 
make the Sign of the Cross ; and, pilgrims of 
truth, let us travel through the East and the 
West. 

Memphis, Athens, Rome, three great cen- 

82 



The Sign of the Cross. 



83 



tres of light, call us to the schools of their 
wise men. 

What say those illustrious masters on the 
points most important for us to know? 

Is the world eternal, or has it been created? 
If created, by whom was it created? Is the 
author of nature matter or spirit? 

Is he eternal, free, independent? 

Are there many? 

Answer: Hesitation, uncertainty, flagrant 
contradictions. 

What is good ? what is evil ? what their 
origin? How comes it that they are found 
in man and in the world? 

Is there a remedy for evil, or is it incura- 
ble ? What is the remedy ? who possesses 
it? how can we obtain it? how apply it? 

Answer : Hesitation, uncertainty, flagrant 
contradictions. 

What is man ? Has he a soul ? Of what 
nature is that soul? is it a fire? a breath? a 
spirit? aeriform matter? Is it subject to fate? 
If it survives the body, what is its destiny? 
What is the end of its existence ? 

To all these questions, and to a thousand 
others, the answer is, — Hesitation, uncer- 
tainty, flagrant contradictions. 

Ah ! pretended great men and great na- 



8 4 



The Sign of the Cross 



tions, who cannot give the first word of 
answer to these fundamental questions — you 
are but great ignoramuses. What matters 
it to us that you can invent systems; sharpen 
sophisms; overwhelm the schools, the senate, 
and the Areopagus with your inexhaustible 
eloquence; drive chariots in the circus, build 
cities ; join in battles, conquer provinces, 
make earth and sea tributary to your concu- 
piscence ? As long as you are ignorant of 
what you are, whence you came, and whither 
you are going, you are, to use the expression 
of one of your own, but fattened swine of 
the herds of Epicurus, Epicuri de grege porci. 
Such was the world before the Sign of the 
Cross. 

But this eloquent Sign has appeared. 

All those disgraceful darknesses have been 
dissipated. By making it, man, whether 
learned or illiterate, has learned the science 
of himself, of the world, and of God. By 
repeating it unceasingly, he has engraven it 
in the very depths of his soul, in such a man- 
ner that he can never forget it. Whatever 
people may say, it was owing to the frequent 
use of the Sign of the Cross, in all classes of 
society, in the city as well as in the country, 
that the Catholic world of the primitive and 



In the Nineteenth Century. 



35 



middle ages, preserved in a degree unknown 
either before or since, the divine science, the 
mother of all others, and the light of life. 

Could it be otherwise ? Let a man during 
forty years repeat seriously, ten times a day, 
any error, whatever it may be, he will end 
by being completely imbued and identified 
with it. Why should not the same happen 
with the truth ? 

Do you desire the proof of what I advance? 
Let us continue our journey; come with me 
through the modern world. It has abandoned 
the Sign of the Cross. Hence it no longer 
has a monitor ever at its side to repeat at 
every instant those three great dogmas so 
necessary to its moral life. It forgets them; 
they are for it as if they were not. Now, see 
what becomes of it with regard to science. 
Like the ancient world, you hear it stammer 
shamefully over the very elementary princi- 
ples of religion, of right, of the family, and of 
propriety. What grounds of truth maintain 
its conversations? What are contained in 
its books of politics and philosophy? By 
the glimmer of what light does it direct its 
private life? 

And the newspapers, those new Fathers 

of the Church, what do you think of them? 
7 



86 



The Sign of the Cross 



Among the torrent of words which they every 
day pour out on society, how many sound 
ideas regarding God, man, or the world, do 
you find? 

What does it know, this modern world, this 
age of enlightenment, which knows no longer 
how to make the Sign of the Cross? Neither 
more nor less than the pagans, its masters 
and models. The god of self, the god of 
commerce, the god of cotton, the god of the 
dollar, the god of the belly, deus venter* It 
knows and adores the goddess of industry, 
the goddess of steam, the goddess of electri- 
city. As means to satisfy its cupidity, it 
knows and adores the science of matter, 
chemistry, physic, mechanism, dynamics, salts, 
essences, sulphates, nitrates and carbonates. 
Behold its gods, its worship, its theology, its 
philosophy, its politics, its morals, its life. 

Yet a little more improvement and it will 
know as much as the contemporaries of 
Noah, condemned to perish by waters of the 
deluge. 

For them, also, all science consisted in 
knowing and adoring the gods of the modern 
world; in drinking, eating, building, buying, 
selling, marrying, and being married. Man 
had concentrated his life in matter. He 



In the Nineteenth Century. 87 



had become flesh, ignorant as flesh, foul as 
flesh.* 

Of all those inclinations, which is wanting 
to the world of our day? Although less 
advanced than that of the giants, is it not of 
the same nature? As for the rest, nothing 
better can be expected from it. Knowing no 
longer how to make the Sign of the Cross, or 
refusing to make it, it materializes itself, and 
in virtue of the law of moral gravitation, falls 
back into the state in which it was before it 
knew how to make it. 

We are ignorant; the Sign of the Cross is 
a book which instructs us. From this new 
point of view, you can judge whether our 
forefathers were wrong in making it inces- 
santly. 

That the deplorable ignorance of the 
present world may, in a great measure, be 
ascribed to its abandonment of the Sign of 
the Cross, you shall presently see. 

What is ignorance ? Ignorance is poverty 
of the mind. In matters of religion it is more 
frequently called poverty of the heart. Pov- 
erty of the heart comes from its weakness in 
practising virtue and rejecting evil. Why 
this weakness? Because man neglects the 

o 

* Math. xxiv. 37, 38, 39, Luke xvii. 28. Gen. vi. VI. Ibid. 3. 



88 The Sign of the Crass 

means of obtaining crrace, or rendering it 
efficacious. The first, the most familiar, 
prompt and easy of those means, is, as you 
know, prayer. Of all prayers, the easiest, 
shortest, most familiar, and perhaps the most 
powerful, is the Sign of the Cross. A new 
meditation for you, a new justification for the 
early Christians. 

W e are poor ; the Sign of the Cross is a 
treasure that enriches us. A beorear is one 
who goes daily from door to door to beg his 
bread. Croesus was a beggar, Alexander 
was a beggar, Caesar was a beggar, all em- 
perors and kings, all empresses and queens 
were beggars ; crowned beggars indeed, but 
always beggars. 

Who is the man, no matter how opulent 
we may suppose him to be, who is not obliged 
to say every day at the door of the great 
Father of the family, Give its this day our 
daily bread. 

Can the most potent monarch make a grain 
of wheat? Man has received everything, 
physical and moral life, and the means of 
preserving both, quid habes quod 11011 accepisti? 
He possesses nothing of his own, not even 
one hair of his head. 

Again, what he has received, has not been 



In the Nineteenth Century. 89 



given him once for all. He is in want every 
day, every hour, every instant. If God, the 
giver of all, were to withhold His gifts for a 
moment, man should die. Since then man 
has nothing, and is in want of everything, at 
every instant he must beg-. 

From this, mv dear Frederic, arises a great 
law of the moral world, on which, most cer- 
tainly, your young companions have never 
reflected. I mean the law of prayer. 

The pagans of the ancient world, the 
idolaters and savages of the present day 
have lost more or less of the patrimony of 
traditionary truths, but none have lost their 
knowledge of the law of prayer. Man, from 
his first appearance on the globe, has invaria- 
bly observed it under one form or another. 

Stronger than all passions, more eloquent 
than all sophisms, the instinct of self-pre- 
servation told him that on his invariable 
fidelity to it depended his existence: it did 
not deceive him. On that day, on which no 
prayer, either human or angelic, would be 
raised to God, all relations would cease be- 
tween the Creator and the creature, between 
the Giver and the beggar ; and the flow of 
the river of life would, at that instant, be 
suspended. 



9 o 



The Sign of the Cross 



Is not this the profound mystery revealed 
to the world by the Incarnate Word Himself, 
when He said that w T e ought always to pray, 
and not to faint, Oportet semper orare et mm- 
quant deficere ? Take notice how imperative 
are these words. The law-giver does not in- 
vite; He commands, and the commandment 
is of absolute necessity, oportet; He allows 
of no intermission, either day or night, in the 
accomplishment of the law, oportet semper. 
As long as man shall be a beggar in the 
sight of God, so long shall the law of prayer 
never be modified, never recalled, never sus- 
pended; and as man must always be a mendi- 
cant, it follows that the law of prayer shall 
preserve its empire unto the last day of the 
world: et nunquam deficere. The physical 
world itself has been organized with refer- 
ence to the perpetual observance of this con- 
serving law of the moral world. Thanks to 
the successive passage of the sun over one 
hemisphere or the other, one-half of mankind 
are always awake for prayer. 

Now, one of the most powerful prayers is 
the Sign of the Cross. All mankind have 
believed this. They believed it only because 
they had learned it; they could have learned 
it only from God Himself, from whom they 



In the Nineteenth Century. 91 



have learned everything. I say all mankind^ 
designedly. Your young companions be- 
lieve, perhaps, that the Sign of the Cross 
dates from Christianity, or that, at least, its 
use has been limited to the Jews and Catho- 
lics. In my next letter I will show you what 
confidence this opinion deserves. 




EIGHTH LETTER. 



The Sign of the Cross oown and practised since the 
beginning of the world — contradictions only apparent 
— Seven ways of making the Sign of the Cross — Testi- 
monies of the Fathers— David, Solomon, and all the 
Jewish nation made the Sign of the Cross, and knew 
its value — Proofs. " 

December 3d. 

My Dear Frederic : 

Your ears and those of many others will 
tingle at the first sentence of my letter — the 
Sign of the Cross runs back to the very 
beginning of the world. It has been made 
by all nations, even by pagans, in their solemn 
prayers on important occasions, when they 
desired to obtain some signal favors. Let 
me first remark, that between this proposition 
and that which I advanced in my preceding 
letter, there is no contradiction. Yesterday 
I spoke of the Sign of the Cross in its perfect 
form and fully understood, such as we prac- 
tise it since the Gospel.' To-day I speak of 
the Sign of the Cross in a form, elementary 
though real, and more or less mysterious to 
those who made it before the Gospel An 



The Sign of the Cross* 



93 



explanation seems to be necessary. I am 
about to give it. 

The Sign of the Cross is so natural to man, 
that at no epoch, among no nation, and in no 
form of worship, did man ever put himself in 
communication with God by prayer, without 
making the Sign of the Cross. Do you know 
of any nation who were accustomed to pray 
with their arms hanging down? As forme, 
I do not. All those that I know, and I know 
the Jews, the Pagans, and the Catholics, have, 
in prayer, made the Sign of the Cross. 

There are seven ways of making it: 

With the arms extended: man then becomes 
an entire Sign of the Cross. 

With hands clasped, the fingers interlaced, 
thus forming five Signs of the Cross. 

The hands joined, one against the other, 
the thumbs placed one over the other; again 
the Sign of the Cross. 

The hands crossed on the breast; another 
form of the Sign of the Cross. 

The arms equally crossed on the breast; 
fifth way of making it. 

The thumb of the right hand passing under 
the index finger and resting on the middle 
one; a Sign of the Cross much in use, as we 
shall see hereafter. 



94 The Sign of the Cross 



And finally, the right hand passing from 
the forehead to the breast, and from the 
breast to the shoulders; a more explicit form, 
which you know. 

Under one or other of these forms, the 
Sign of the Cross- has been practised every- 
where and always, in solemn circumstances, 
with a knowledge more or less clear of its 
efficacy. 

Jacob lies at the point of death. Around 
him stand his twelve sons, the future fathers 
of the twelve tribes of Israel. Inspired by 
God, the holy patriarch announces to each 
what shall happen to him in succeeding 
ages. At the sight of Ephraim and Ma- 
nassas, Joseph's two children, the old man 
being moved, invokes on them all the bless- 
ings of heaven. To obtain them what does 
he do? He crosses his arms, says the Scrip- 
ture, and places his left hand on the child at 
his right, and his right on the one at his left. 
Behold the Sign of the Cross, the eternal 
token of benediction ! 

In this, tradition is not deceived. Jacob 
was the type of the Messiah. In that solemn 
moment, words, attitude, everything in the 
patriarch was prophetic. 

" Jacob," says St. John of Damascus, " in 



In the Nineteenth Century. 95 



crossing his hands to bless Joseph's children, 
forms the Sign of the Cross ; nothing is more 
evident."* 

Even from apostolic times, Tertullian es- 
tablished the same fact, and gave it the like 
meaning. "The Old Testament," says he, 
" shows us Jacob blessing Joseph's children, 
his left hand passed over on the head of him 
at his right and the right on the head of him 
at his left. In this position they formed the 
Sign of the Cross, and foretold the blessings 
of which the Crucified should be the source. 

Let us go back to the time of the servitude 
in Egypt, and pass on to Moses. Having 
reached the midst of the desert, the Hebrews 
find themselves face to face with Amalec. 
At the head of a powerful army, the hostile 
king stops their passage. A decisive battle 
is inevitable. What will Moses do? Instead 
of remaining in the plain, to encourage, by 
his voice and gesture, the battalions of Israel, 
he ascends the mountain which commands a 
view of the battle-field. What does the law r - 
giver, inspired by God, do during the com- 
bat? He makes the Sign of the Cross, 
nothing but the Sign of the Cross, and the 
Sign of the Cross during the whole of the 



* Do Fib. orthod.j lib. iv. c. 12, 



f De Baptism. 



9 6 



The Sign of the Cross 



combat. Nowhere do we learn that he pro- 
nounces any words. With hands open, and 
arms extended toward heaven, he makes him- 
self a living Sign of the Cross. God sees him 
in this attitude, and the victory is gained.* 

This is not an idle supposition. Listen again 
to the Fathers of the Church. "Amalec," 
cries out St. John of Damascus, " those hands 
extended in the form of a Cross, have van- 
quished thee !"f And the great Tertullian: 
"Why does Moses, at the time that Joshua is 
about to combat with Amalec, do what he 
never did before — pray with extended arms? 
In a circumstance so decisive, should he not, 
in order to render his prayer more efficacious, 
bend his knee, strike his breast, and bow his 
head to the dust? Nothing of all this. Why? 
Because that combat of the Lord in which 
Amalec was delivered up a prey, prefigured 
the battles of the Incarnate Word against 
Satan, and the Sign of the Cross, by which 
He was to conquer.t 

And St. Justin, the philosopher and martyr, 
who lived so near the time of the apostles, 
says: "Moses with extended arms, upheld by 
Hur and Aaron, remaining on the mountain 

* Exod. xvii. 10. f De Fid. orthod , lib. iv. c. 12. 

% Contr. Mareian., bib. 111. 



In the Nineteenth Century. 97 



until sunset, what is he but a living Sign of 
the Cross?"* 

Insensible to the miracles of the paternal 
solicitude, of which they were the constant 
objects, the Hebrews murmur against Moses 
and against God. Murmurs rise to revolt, 
and the revolt becomes general and obsti- 
nate. The chastisement is not long delayed, 
and it assumes the same characteristics. 
Royal serpents, frightful reptiles whose ve- 
nom burns like fire, fall upon the guilty and 
wound them with their fangs. The camp is 
filled with the dead and dying. At the prayer 
of Moses, God shows them mercy. To put 
the serpents to flight and heal the innumer- 
able sick, what means will He indicate? 
Prayers? No. Fasts? No. An altar? an 
expiatory column ? Nothing of all this. He 
orders him to make a Sign of the Cross, 
permanent and visible to all ; a sign that each 
of the sick shall make in his heart, only by 
looking at it, and such shall be the power of 
this sign, that one look alone shall suffice to 
restore him to health. The signification of 
this divinely commanded sign is not doubtful. 
The true Sign of the Cross, the eternally 
living Sign of the Cross, our Lord himself, 



* Dialog, cum Tryph., n. iii. 

9 



9 8 



The Sign of the Cross 



has revealed to mankind that the sign of the 
desert was a figure of Himself. "And as 
Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so 
must the Son of man be lifted up; that who- 
soever believeth in him may not perish, but 
may have life everlasting."* 

If the limits of a letter permitted, we might 
read together the annals of this typical peo- 
ple, and you would see, my dear friend, that 
on all important occasions, the only ones 
which we know well, they had recourse to 
the Sign of the Cross. I will cite a few of 
them. In the sacrifices, the priest first raised 
the victim in the manner prescribed by law. 
He then carried it from east to west, as we 
learn from the Jews themselves ; thus was 
made the Sign of the Cross. It was by the 
same motion that the high-priest, and even 
the simple priests, blessed the people after 
the sacrifice.^ 

From the Jewish Church, this sign passed 
to the Christian. The first faithful, struck by 
the ancient manner of blessing with the Sign 
of the Cross, were easily instructed by the 
apostles on its mysterious signification, and 
naturally inclined to continue it, adding the 
divine words which explain it. 



* John iii. 15. fDuquet. Treat, of the Cross of our Lord, c. viii. 



In the Nineteenth Century. 99 

In the time of the prophet Ezechiel the 
abominations of Jerusalem were at their 
height. A mysterious personage, says the 
prophet, received orders to traverse the city, 
and to mark the sign T on the foreheads of 
all those who mourned over the abominations 
of that guilty capital. By his side walked six 
other persons, each armed with a deadly 
weapon, who w r ere commanded to kill indis- 
criminately all those not marked with the 
salutary sign.* 

How is it possible not to see here a strik- 
ing figure of the Sign of the Cross which is 
made on our foreheads? Thus it is under- 
stood by the Fathers of the Church, among 
others, by Tertullian and St. Jerome. " As," 
say they, " the sign Thau marked on the fore- 
heads of the inhabitants of Jerusalem who 
grieved over the crimes of that city, protected 
them against the exterminating angel, so also 
the Sign of the Cross marked on the fore- 
head of a man, is an assurance that he shall 
not become the victim of the demon and the 
other enemies of his salvation, if he really 
grieve over the abomination which this sign 
interdicts."f 

* Ezech. ix. 4, etc. 

t Tertull., adv. Marcion., lib. iii. c. 22 ; S. Ilier. in Ezech. c. s. 



The Sign of the Cross 



The Philistines have reduced die Israelites 
to the most humiliating servitude. Samson 
begins their deliverance, but, unhappily, the 
strength of Israel allows himself to be sur- 
prised. They load him with chains, after 
having caused his eyes to be pulled out. 
They make a plaything of him, to amuse them 
at their feasts. Samson, however, meditates 
revenge. He plans how, with one blow, he 
may be able to destroy thousands of enemies. 

Providence has so arranged things that it 
is by the Sign of the Cross he shall consum- 
mate his design. "Placed between two of 
the pillars that support the edifice," says St. 
Augustine, "the Strength of Israel extends 
his arms in the form of a cross. In this 
all-powerful attitude, he shakes the pillars; 
they give way, he crushes his enemies ; and 
like the Great Crucified, of whom he is the 
figure, he dies, buried in his own triumph/'* 

David, overwhelmed with sorrow, is reduced 
to the greatest extremity in which a king- can 
find himself. A parricidal son, revolting sub- 
jects, an unsteady throne, old age fast coming 
on! What does the inspired monarch do? 
He prays, by making the Sign of the Cross. t 



* Serai. 107, de Temp. 

f Expandi man us meas ad te. Ps. S3, 142, etc.. etc. 



In the Nineteenth Century. 



101 



Solomon finishes the temple of Jerusalem. 
The magnificent edifice is consecrated with a 
pomp worthy of the monarch. He wishes to 
draw down the blessings of heaven upon the 
new dwelling of the God of Israel, and to 
obtain His favors for those who will come 
there to pray. What does Solomon do? 
He prays, by making the Sign of the Cross. 
"And Solomon," says the Sacred Text, 
"stood before the altar of the Lord, in the 
sight of the assembly of Israel, and spread 
forth his hands toward heaven, and said: 
Lord God of Israel, there is no God like thee 
in heaven above, or on earth beneath. . . . 
Have regard to the prayer of thy servant. . . . 
That thy eyes may be opened on this house 
night and day ; . . . That thou mayest 
hearken to the supplication of thy servant, 
and of thy people Israel."* 

To believe that the patriarchs, judges, and 
prophets, the kings and the seers of Israel 
were the only ones who knew and practised 
the Sign of the Cross, would be an error. 
All the people knew it, and in times of 
public danger made religious use of it. 

Sennacherib is advancing from victory to 
victory. The greater part of Palestine is 



* 3 Kings viii. 22. et seq. 



* I02 



The Sign of the Cross, 



invaded ; Jerusalem itself is threatened. Be- 
hold what that entire nation, men, women, 
and children, do to repulse the enemy. Like 
Moses, they make the Sign of the Cross ; 
become living images of that holy sign. 
" And they invoked the Lord of mercies, and 
spreading their hands, they lifted them up to 
heaven. And the Lord quickly heard them."* 
Another danger threatens them. Helio- 
dorus, with a numerous band of soldiers, 
comes to pillage the Temple. He has already 
entered the exterior enclosure ; yet a few 
moments and the sacrilege shall be consum- 
mated. The Priests lie prostrate at the foot 
of the altar, but nothing stops the spoliator. 
What do the people do ? They have recourse 
to their traditional weapon ; they pray, 
making the Sign of the Cross. You know 
the rest.f 

If it is incontestable that to pray with out- 
stretched arms is one form of the Sign of 
the Cross, you see that from all antiquity 
the Jews have known and practised it, with a 
mysterious instinctive feeling of its power. 
We shall see to-morrow if the pagans were 
much less instructed. 



* Eccl. xlviii. 22, 



t II Machab. iii. 20. 



NINTH LETTER. 



The Sigh of the Cross amosg Pagahs — Xetv details oe ah 
exterior form of the slgh of the cross amokg the fip.st 
Christians — The Martyrs ih the amphitheatre — Ety- 
mology of the word adore — The Pagans adored sr making 
the Sign of tee Cross — How they made it — First manner. 

December 4th. 

The Sign of the Cross among the pagans ; 
such, my friend, is the subject oi this letter, 
In order to follow to the end the traditional 
chain which unites the synagogue to the 
church, I am o-oincr to say a word to you 
about the Sign of the Cross among the 
primitive Christians. You are already aware 
that they made it at every instant, but are, 
perhaps, ignorant that in order not to inter- 
rupt it while they were praying, they trans- 
formed themselves into Signs of the Cross. 
In any case, I would wager a hundred 
against one, that your companions know 
nothing of it. 

What Moses, Samson, David, and the 
Israelites did only at intervals, our forefathers 

103 



104 



The Sign of the Cross 



did always ; you will understand the reason 
of this. Amalec, the Philistines, Heliodorus, 
were passing enemies, while the Roman 
giant never laid down his arms. Between 
our fathers and him the struo-o-le was con- 

o o 

tinual ; it was carried to the extreme ; it was 
without respite or intermission, 

Under those circumstances each became 
as another Moses on the Mount. Not for 
one dav, but during" three centuries did their 
hands remain extended towards heaven, 
asking, like those of the Hebrew law-giver, 
victory for the martyrs in the arena, and the 
conversion of their persecutors. 

Let us hear an eye-witness speak of their 
thoughts and attitude in prayer. "We pray/' 
says Tertullian, "with our eves raised toward 
heaven, and our hands outstretched, because 
they are innocent ; our heads bare, because 
we have nothing to blush for ; without a 
monitor, because we pray from the heart. 
In this attitude we unceasingly implore that 
all the emperors may have a long life, a 
peaceful reign, a palace free from snares, a 
valorous army, a virtuous people, a tranquil 
world ; in a word, for all the wishes of the 
man and the Caesar."* 



* Apol. 3 c. xxx. 



In the Nineteenth Century. 105 

Thus prayed, in the East and the West, 
men, women, children, young men, young 
virgins, old men, senators, matrons, the faith- 
ful of all conditions. This mysterious attitude 
they kept not only in their meetings in the 
depths of catacombs, in pleading the interests 
of others, but they also took it with them, 
when, dragged into the amphitheatre, they 
had to fight for themselves, under the eyes 
of innumerable spectators, the great combat 
of martyrdom. Can you, my dear friend, 
imagine a more affecting spectacle than that 
of which Eusebius gives us a description ? 

The persecution of Diocletian was raging 
with great violence in Phoenicia. One day a 
great number of Christians, condemned to 
the wild beasts, were to be seen entering the 
amphitheatre. The spectators shuddered with 
deep emotion at the sight of that multitude 
of children, youths, and old men, stripped of 
their garments, their eyes raised to heaven, 
their arms extended in the form of a Cross, 
standing immovable, without fear or surprise, 
in the midst of ravenous lions and tigers. 
The fear which ought to have agitated the 
condemned, had passed into the souls of the 
spectators, and even of the judges."* 

* Hist. eccL, lib. viii., c. 5. 



io5 



The Sign of the Cross 



That attitude was not exceptional. Let us 
listen again to the same historian; none is 
more worthy of credit, for he was an eye-wit- 
ness of what he relates. "You should have 
seen in the midst of the amphitheatre," says 
he, "a young man not yet twenty years of 
age, freed from his bonds, standing tranquilly, 
his arms extended in the form of a Cross, his 
eyes and heart fixed on heaven, praying with 
fervor, motionless in the midst of bears and 
leopards, whose fury threatened instant death; 
then those furious beasts, ready to tear his 
flesh, suddenly muzzled, as it were, by a mys- 
terious power, hastily fled away."* 

On account of the delicacy of the victim, 
the West offers us a still more affecting sight 
It was in the midst of the great city of Rome. 
Never had such multitudes crowded the steps 
of the circus. The heroine was Agnes, a 
noble virgin only thirteen years old. Con- 
demned to the fire, she ascends the funeral 
pile. 

"Do you see her," says St. Ambrose, 
"stretching her hands towards Christ, and 
even in the midst of the flames erecting the 
victorious standard of the Lord? With hands 
outstretched through the flames, she offers 



* Hist, eccl., lib. viii. c. 7. 



In the Nineteenth Century. 107 



to God the following- prayer : O Thou whom 
we must adore, honor, and fear: Almighty 
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, I bless thee, 
because, thanks to thine only Son, I have 
escaped from the hands of impious men, and 
have passed unsullied through the impurities 
of the demon. And behold, moreover, that 
by the dew of the Holy Ghost is extinguished 
the fire which surrounds me; the flames are 
divided, and the burning heat of my pile 
threatens those who have enkindled it."* 

Such was the eloquent form of the Sign of 
the Cross in use among the Christians of the 
primitive Church, those Moseses of the new 
covenant. You may see another proof of 
this- on the paintings in the Catacombs. This 
form has lasted a long time. I saw it prac- 
tised about thirty years ago, by some of the 
German people. But even if this form be in 
disuse among the faithful, the Church reli- 
giously preserves it. The two hundred thou- 
sand priests who every day ascend the altar, 
in every part of the globe, are the visible 
links of that traditional chain which extends 
from us to the Catacombs, from the Cata- 
combs to Calvary, from Calvary to Raphidim, 
and then is lost in the night of time. 



* Lib. I. de Virgin. 



io8 The Sign of the Cross 



Let us speak of the pagans. They also 
made the Sign of the . Cross. They made it 
in prayer, and, with good reason, believed it 
to be endued with mysterious strength of 
great importance. Ask your companions for 
the etymology of the word adore, adorare. 
They will not be at a loss for the answer. If 
this word were a creation of the Church, you 
might dispense yourself from asking the 
question, but it is found in the Latin of the 
Golden Age, as they say in colleges, and they, 
bachelors just fresh from college, ought to 
know it. 

Analyzing it, then, we find that the verb to 
adore, signifies, according to all etymologists, 
to bring the hand to the mouth and kiss it, 
manum ad os admovere. Such was the way 
in which the pagans honored their gods. 
Proofs of this abound. 

" When w r e adore," says Pliny, " we bring 
our right hand to our mouth and kiss it; 
then we describe a circle with our body, w r e 
turn ourselves around."* 

* Hist. Nat., lib. xxviii. 
Note — " We turn ourselves around." What means this 
kind of adoration? By carrying the hand to the mouth, man 
pays the homage of his person to the divinity : by turning 
around, he imitates the motion of the planets, and offers to 
the divinity the homage of the whole world, of which the 



In the Nineteenth Century. 



109 



Hear Minutius Felix: " Cecilius saw the 
statue of Serapis, and, according to the cus- 
tom of the superstitious people, put his hand 
to his mouth and kissed it."* 

Apuleius: " Until now yEmilianus has 
prayed to no god ; he has frequented no 
temple. If he passes before a sacred place, 
he regards it as a crime to bring his hand to 
his lips to adore. "f 

Why did this gesture express the sovereign 
worship, the worship of adoration ? I will 
tell you in two words. Man is the image of 
God. God is entire in His Word ; by Him 
He does all things. Like God, man is entire 
in his word ; it is by it that he does every- 
thing. To carry the hand to the mouth, is to 
repress the word; it is, in some sort, to be 
annihilated. 

To do it as the pagans did, to honor the 

celestial bodies are the most noble portion. This manner of 
adoring was a part of Sabianism, or the worship of the stars, 
which dates back to the farthest antiquity. According to the 
Pythagoreans, this form had come from Xuma, who pre- 
scribed the turning around : Circumage te cum decs adoras. 
M It is said.'' adds Plutarch, u that it is a representation of the 
revolution which the heavens make in their motion/' This 
profoundly mysterious practice was wide-spread in America, 
before its discovery; it is still in use among the turning der- 
vishes in the East. 

* In Octav. f Apol. L, vers. fin. 

10 



no The Sign of the Cross 



demon, was to declare themselves his vassals, 
his subjects, his slaves, and even to acknow- 
ledge him as God. You see that it was an 
enormous crime. Hence the remarkable 
words of Job, pleading his cause: "If I 
beheld the sun when it shined, and the moon 
advancing in brightness ; and my heart in 
secret hath rejoiced, and I have kissed my 
hand with my mouth : which is a very great 
iniquity, and a denial against the most high 
God."* 

This mysterious gesture was so particular 
a sign of idolatry, that in speaking of the 
Israelites who had remained faithful, God 
said: "And I will leave me seven thousand 
men in Israel whose knees have not been 
bowed before Baal, and every mouth that 
hath not worshipped him, kissing the hands. "f 

The pagans adored by carrying the hand 
to the mouth and kissing it: the fact is incon- 
testable ; but you will tell me that in all this 
you do not see the Sign of the Cross. You 
shall see it presently, in the manner of kiss 
ing the hand. 

Look at that pagan, his knee bent to the 
ground, or his head bowed before his idols. 
Do you see him passing the thumb of his 



* Job, xxxi. 26, 27, 28. 



f 3 Kings, xix. 18. 



In the Nineteenth Century. 



1 1 1 



rioht hand under the index, and resting- it on 
the middle finger, so as to form a cross ; 
then devoutly kissing that cross, murmuring 
a few words in honor of his gods ? Repeat 
this gesture yourself, and you will see that 
the Sign of the Cross could not be better 
formed. 

That such was the manner of the adoring 
kiss among many other pagans, we learn 
from Apuleius, " A multitude of citizens and 
strangers," says he, "were attracted by the 
noise of the ravishing spectacle. Amazed at 
the admirable beauty of which they were the 
witnesses, they carried their right hand to 
their mouth, the index resting on the thumb ; 
and by religious prayers honored it even as 
the divinity."* 

This manner of making the Sign of the 
Cross is so true and so expressive, that it 
remains, even in our day, familiar to a great 
number of Christians in every country. It 
was not the only one known to the pagans. 
Such of them as were the most pious, made 
the Sign of the Cross by joining their hands 



* Asin. Aur., lib. iv. As to the accompanying murmur, seo 
Ovid vi.. Metamorpb. 

Kestilit et pavido, faveas mihi murmure dixit 
Dux mens : et siniili, faveas mihi, murmure dixi. 



112 



The Sign of the Cross 



over the breast. We find this Sign of the 
Cross in one of the most solemn and mys- 
terious circumstances of their public life. I 
will leave your curiosity unsatisfied until to- 
morrow. 




TENTH LETTER. 



Second and Third way in which the Pagans made the Sign 
of the Cross — Testimonies — The Pietas publico, — The Pagans 
acknowledged a mysterious power in the slgn of the 
-Cross — Whence came that belief — Great mystery of the 
moral world — importance of the slgn of the ceoss in the 
sight of God — The Sign of the Cross in the physical world 
— Words of the Fathers and of Plato— Inconsistency of 
the ancient and modern Pagans — Reason of the especial 
hatred of the demon for this holy sign. 

Coming out of college after ten years of 
Greek and Latin studies, we do not know the 
first word of pagan antiquity. Education 
continually shows us the upper side of the 
cards, but never the under side. What hap- 
pens in France, I have reason to believe, 
happens also among our neighbors. Hence 
it comes, my dear friend, that the fact with 
which I am about to entertain you, will be for 
many a strange novelty. Here it is. 

When a Roman army began to lay siege to 
a city, the first operation of the general, 
whoever he might be, whether Camillus, 
Fabius, Metellus, Caesar, or Scipio, w r as not to 



1 1 4 The Sign of the Cross 



dig trenches, or raise lines of circumvallation, 
but to evoke the gods, the defenders of the 
city, and to call them into his camp. The 
formula of evocation is too long for a letter; 
you will find it in Macrobius. 

Now then, in pronouncing it, the general 
made the Sign of the Cross twice; first as did 
Moses and the early Christians, and as the 
priest does now at the altar. With hands 
extended towards heaven, he pronounced in 
supplication the name of Jupiter. Then, full 
of confidence in the efficacy of his prayer, he 
devoutly crossed his hands upon his breast.* 
Behold here the Sign of the Cross under two 
forms, incontestable, universal, and perfectly 
regular. 

If this remarkable fact is generally ignored, 
there is another a little less so. The custom 
of praying with outstretched arms was famil- 
iar to the pagans of the East and West On 
this point there is no difference between 
them, the Jews, and ourselves. Read your 
classics over again. 

Livy says to you: "On their knees, they 
raised their suppliant hands to heaven, and 
to the gods/'t 

Dionysius of Halicarnassus: "Brutus, hear- 



*Satur. 3 lib. iii. c. 2. 



f Lib. xxxvi. 



/// the Nineteenth Century. 



ing of the misfortune and death of Lucretia, 
raised his hands to heaven, and invoked 
Jupiter and all the gods."* 

And Virgil : " Father Anchises on the shore, 
his hands raised, invoked the great gods."t 

And Athenaeus: "Darius, having heard with 
what regard Alexander treated his captive 
daughters, stretched his hands toward the 
sun, and beo-a-ed that if he himself were not 
to reign, the empire might be given to Alex- 
ander. "t 

In fine, Apuleius declares formally, that 
this manner of praying was not an exception, 
or, as some young moderns would qualify 
it, an eccentricity^ but a permanent custom. 
ik The attitude of those who pray," says he, 
11 is to raise the hands to heaven. "§ 

An instinct, which I will call traditional, for 

otherwise it would have no name, taught 

them the value of this mysterious srgfn. To 

* <_> 

be able to make it at their last moments was 
for them an assured pledge of salvation. 

"If death," says Arrian, "'should surprise 
me in the midst of my occupations, it will be 

* Antiquit, lib. iv. 
f iEnei<l. lib. iii. 

"At Pater Anchises, passis de littare palmis 
Numina magna vocat."' 
\ Lib. siii. c. 27. \ Lib. tk Minnie, vers fin. 



n6 



The Sign of the Cross 



enough for me that I be able to raise my 
hands to heaven."* 

Take notice, that he does not say : If I can 
fall on my knees, or strike my breast, or bow 
my forehead to the dust; but, If I can extend 
my arms in the form of a cross, and raise 
them towards heaven. And why this ? Ask 
your companions. 

Ask them why the Egyptians placed the 
cross in their temples, prayed before that 
adorable sign, and looked upon it as an omen 
of future happiness. "When, in the time 
of Theodosius," relate the Greek historians, 
Socrates and Sozomen, " they were destroy- 
ing the temples of the false gods, they found 
that of Serapis, in Egypt, full of stones 
marked with the Sign of the Cross. This 
made them say to the neophytes, that between 
Jesus Christ and Serapis there was some- 
thing in common. They added, that among 
them the cross signified the future age.f 

Among- the Romans this same instinct was 
transferred by a fact, of which I would be in- 
clined to doubt, did I not have weighty proof 
of it in an antique medal placed before my 
eyes. Knowing, on the one side, the effi- 



* In Epicfet., lib. iv. c. 10. 

f Socrat., lib. v. c. 17. — Sozom., lib. vii. c. 15. 



In the Nineteenth Century. 



117 



cacy of the Sign of the Cross, which I have 
described, yet on the other, not being willing, 
like Moses or the early Christians, to remain 
with their arms in the form of a cross during* 
all their prayers, what did they do ? 

They imagined a goddess, commissioned to 
intercede continually for the republic, and 
represented her in the attitude of Moses on 
the Mount. Therefore in Rome, in the centre 
of the Forum olitorium, where are now to be 
seen the ruins of the theatre of Marcellus, 
was raised the statue of the goddess called 
Pietas publico,* She is represented standing, 
with her arms outstretched in the form of a 
cross, absolutely like Moses on the Mount, 
or the early Christians in the Catacombs. 
She has, moreover, at her left an altar, on 
which burns incense, the symbol of prayer/' 1 

On the impetratory and adoring value of 
the Sign of the Cross, the far East agreed 
with the West, the Chinese with the Ro- 
mans. 

Would you believe that Hien Yuen, an 
emperor of China, in times so ancient as to 
be almost mythological, had, like Plato, fore- 
seen the mystery of the Cross ? 

"To honor the Most High, that ancient 



Gretzer, De Cruce, p. 33. Forcellini. 



n8 



The Sign of the Cross 



emperor joined two pieces of wood together, 
one straight, the other transverse."* 

Thus of the seven ways of making the 
Sign of the Cross, three were known to the 
pagans, and practised religiously by them, 
particularly on important occasions. All 
this is very well, you will say, but did they 
know what they were doing? Was it not a 
sign purely arbitrary, and therefore insignifi- 
cant, from which we can draw no conclu- 
sions ? 

That the pagans understood the Sign of 
the Cross as we do, is what I would not pre- 
tend to say. It was with them, as with the 
figures among the Jews. In their eyes it had 
a real signification, a considerable value, 
although more or less mysterious, according 
to the places, times, and persons. 

You know of letters written with sympa- 
thetic ink. At first sight, the characters, 
although really traced, are scarcely apparent, 
but when brought near the fire, they immedi- 
ately appear, and are perfectly legible. Such 
was the Sign of the Cross among the pagans. 
When struck with the ravs of evangelical 
light, this clare-obscitre no more changed its 

* Prelim. Discourse of Chou-king by Premare, ch. ix. p. 
xcii. 



In the Nineteenth Century. 119 



nature than did the figures of the Old Testa- 
ment, but like them it became intelligible to 
all ; it discovered itself, it spoke. 

To believe that among the pagans this sign 
was an arbitrary one, is a supposition that 
falls of itself. Anything universal is never 
arbitrary ; the Sign of the Cross less so than 
anything else. Here, my dear Frederic, we 
touch upon one of the most profound mys- 
teries of the moral order. 

Forget not that my present aim is to show 
in the Sign of the Cross a treasure that 
enriches us. To be enriched, man must ask, 
and God must give. In order that God may 
hear man, man must be agreeable in the 
sight of God : Dens peccatores 11011 exaudit. 
Xo one is pleasing to God but His Son, and 
those who are like Him. 

Now, the Son of God, the only Mediator 
between God and man, is a living Sign of the 
Cross, a sign eternally living, from the begin- 
ning of the world ; Agnus occisus ab origins 
mundi. He is the great Crucified, and the 
great Crucified is the new Adam, the type of 
mankind, In order to be agreeable to God, 
it is necessary that man should resemble his 
Divine Model, and be crucified ; be a living 
Sign of the Cross. 



1 20 The Sign of the Cross 



Such, like that of the Word Himself, is his 
destiny upon earth. As a beggar, this is 
principally the position he must take when 
he presents himself before God to ask for 
alms. 

Providence has not wished that he should 
be ignorant of this condition necessary for 
success. Man has no more lost the know- 
ledge of the instrument of his redemption 
than of his fall, and his hope in the Redeemer. 
Hence the existence and practice of the Sign 
of the Cross in prayer, among all nations, 
from the beginning of ages even to our own 
day. God has not only engraven the instinct 
of the Sign of the Cross on the heart of man. 
In order to keep ever-present, even to his 
corporal eyes, the necessity of this salutary 
sign, and to make him understand the sove- 
reign part which it must play in the moral 
world, the Creator has w r illed that in the 
material world, everything should be done 
bv this sicrn, that all in it should show this 
necessary action and reproduce its image. 

Listen to men who had eyes to see. 

"It is exceedingly remarkable, ,, says Gret- 
zer, " that, from the very beginning of the 
world, God has been pleased to keep the 
figure of the Cross continually before the eyes 



In the Nineteenth Century. 121 



of mankind, and has so organized things that 
man can scarcely do anything without the 
intervention of the Sign of the Cross."* 

Gretzer is the hundredth echo of traditional 
philosophy. Listen to others. 

"Look," say they, "at everything in the 
world, and see if all is not governed and put 
in motion by the Sign of the Cross. The 
bird that flies in the air, the man that swims 
in the water, or that offers a prayer, makes 
the Sign of the Cross, and can act only by it. 

"To gain a fortune and to seek riches at 
the extremity of the world, the navigator 
needs a ship ; the ship cannot sail without a 
mast, and the mast and the sail-yards form the 
Cross; without it no government is possible, 
no fortune is to be hoped for. The husband- 
man seeks food from the earth, the food of 
the rich and of kings. To obtain it, he must 
have a plough. The plough cannot open the 
earth unless it be armed with the plough- 
share, and the plough with the plough-share 
forms the Cross. "f 

"If this sign is the means by which man 

* De Cruce, lib. i. c. 52. 

t S. Ilier. in c. xi. Mark. — Orig., Hamil. viiL m divers — S. 
Maxim. Pourin., ap. S. Arabr. t. nu serra. 56. etc., etc. We 
could cite many thousand other applications. 
11* 



j 22 The Sign of the Cross 



acts over nature, it is also the instrument of 
his actions over his fellow-creatures. In bat- 
tle, is it not the sight of the flag that animates 
the soldiers? What' do we see on the Roman 
Cantabra and Siparia of the standards, if not 
a Cross? Both one and the other were 
gilded lances, surmounted with a piece of 
wood placed horizontally, from which de- 
pended a veil of purple and gold. The eagles 
with outspread wings placed on the top of the 
lances, and the other military insignia always 
surmounted by two extended wings, invaria- 
bly remind us of the Sign of the Cross. 

The trophies and monuments of victories 
gained, always formed a Cross. The religion 
of the Romans was all warlike; they adored 
their standards, swore by their standards, 
preferred them to all their gods ; and all their 
standards were crosses: Omnes Hit imaginum 
siiggestus insignes monilia crucium sunt."* 

Therefore when Constantine wished to 
perpetuate the remembrance of the Cross by 
which he had vanquished, he was not obliged 
to change the imperial standard ; but con- 
tented himself with causing the cipher of 
Christ to be engraven on it, as if it was 
only necessary to name Him of whom he 



* Tcrtul. Apolog. xvi. 



In the Nineteenth Century. 



123 



had had the vision, and not the object of 
that vision. * 

Man, in his turn, is distinguished exteriorly 
from beasts, because he can stand and extend 
his arms; and man, standing in this posture, 
forms the Cross. We are also commanded to 
pray in this attitude, to the end that our 
members themselves should proclaim the 
Passion of the Lord. When our soul and 
body, each after its manner, confess Jesus 
on the Cross, then it is that our prayers are 
more speedily granted. 

Heaven itself is disposed in the form of 
the Cross. What do the four cardinal points 
represent, if not the four arms of the Cross, 
and the universality of its salutary virtue ? 

The whole creation bears the impress of 
the Cross. Has not Plato himself written, 
that the Power nearest to the first God, is 
extended over the world in the form of a 
Cross ?•}- 

Hence the peremptory response of Minu- 
tius Felix to the pagans who reproached the 
Christians for making the Sign of the Cross. 



* Euseb., lib. ix., Histor. 9. 

f S. Maxim. — Taurin. apud S. Amb. t. iii. ser. 56. — 3 Hier., 
In Marc xi.; TertiiL, Apol. xvi. — Origen. Homil. viii. in 
divers. — S. Just. Apol. \\ ) etc. etc. 



1 24 The Sign of the Cross 



"Is not the cross everywhere ?" said he to 
them. "Your ensigns, your banners, the 
standards of your camps, your trophies — what 
are they, if not crosses gilded and orna- 
mented ? Do not you, as well as we, pray 
with extended arms ? In that solemn attitude 
do you not use formulas by which you pro- 
claim one only God? Do you not, then, 
resemble the Christians, who adore one only 
God, and have the courage to confess their 
faith in the midst of torments, with their 
arms extended in the form of a Cross ? 

" Between you and us what difference is 
there, when with your arms outstretched in 
the form of a cross, you say : ' Great God, true 
God, if God wishes ?' Is this the natural 
language of the pagan, or rather the prayer 
of the Christian ? Then either the Sign of 
the Cross is the foundation of natural reason, 
or it serves as the basis of your religion. "* 

" Why, then," added some other apologists, 
11 why do you persecute it ?" And I also, my 
dear Frederic, can address the same ques- 
tion to the modern pagans. Why do you 
persecute the Sign of the Cross ? Why are 
you ashamed of it? Why do you pursue 



* Ita signo crucis aut ratio naturalis innititur, au vestra 
religio formatur. (Octav.) 



In the Nineteenth Century* 125 

with your sarcasms those who have the cour- 
age to make it ? The answer is the same to- 
day as in former times. Satan, the great ape 
of God, put himself in competition with the 
Sign of the Cross ; he permitted the pagans 
to make it for his own profit. The perfidi- 
ous wretch ! he was glad to see men employ 
for his worship and their own loss, even that 
sign destined for the adoration of the true 
God, and their salvation. As to the Chris- 
tians, it was otherwise. By them the Sign 
of the Cross was brought back to its true 
destination. It honored the true God, and, 
'in particular, the Incarnate Word, the object 
of the personal hatred of Satan, from whom 
He rescued man, his victim ; then in the 
Christian, the Sign of the Cross became an 
object of raillery, a crime deserving of death. 
Nothing has changed. Therefore in our day 
the Sign of the Cross is an object of mockery 
with the slaves of Satan ; but when employed 
in profane uses or occult practices, it pro- 
vokes neither their hatred nor sarcasm. 
Whence come, then, among the wicked of 
every age, those dispositions, in appearance 
so contradictory, of love and hatred, of respect 
and contempt for this adorable sign ? " From 

Satan himself," answers Tertullian. " Spirit 

11* 



126 



The Sign of the Cross 



of lies, it is his part to alter truth, and turn 
the most holy things to the profit of idols. 
He baptizes his faithful, assuring them that 
water will remit their sins ; in this way he 
initiates into the worship of Mithras. He 
marks his soldiers on the forehead. He 
celebrates the oblation of the bread. He 
promises resurrection, and a crown bought 
by the sword. 

"What do I say? He has a sovereign 
pontiff to whom he forbids a second marriage. 
He has his virgins ; he has his chaste ones. 
If we examine in detail the superstitions 
established by Numa, the sacerdotal offices, 
the insignia, the privileges, the order and 
detail of the sacrifices, the sacred utensils, 
even the vessels used for the sacrifices, all the 
objects employed for expiations and prayers ; 
is it not manifest that the demon, the robber 
of Moses, has counterfeited all these? And 
since the gospel, the imitation still con- 
tinues."* 

Satan goes still further. Knowing all the 
power of the Sign of the Cross, he has wished 
to make of it a personal symbol, that by this 
substitution he may engross all the homage 
due from the world to the Crucified God. 



* J)e prescript. 



In the Nineteenth Century. 127 



" Instructed by the prophetic oracles/' says 
Firmicus Maternus, " the implacable enemy 
of mankind has made that which was estab- 
lished for the salvation of the world, serve 
as the instrument of iniquity. What are 
those horns which he boasts of having ? The 
caricature of those of which the inspired 
prophet of God speaks, and which you, 
Satan, believe you can adapt to your hide- 
ous figure. How can you seek in them for 
ornament and glory? Those horns are but 
the figure of the venerable Sign of the 
Cross."* 

Now the forehead marked with the Sigfn of 
the Cross makes him shudder with rage. He 
finds no torments cruel enough to punish him 
who bears the image of the Incarnate Word. 
See, dear friend, how he treats our fathers, 
our mothers, our brothers, and sisters, the 
martyrs of all times and all countries. Some- 
times he causes the skin to be torn off their 
foreheads, and on the naked bones to be 
stamped with a red hot iron the marks cf 
ignominy. Again, he causes others to be 
cloven through in the form of a cross ; or to 
be compressed with ropes until they are 
entirely deformed; or to be beaten with ox's 

* De error, profari. relig. xxii. 



128 The Sig7i of the Cross. 



sinews until they are rendered unrecogni- 
zable.* 

A great lesson ! Let this hatred of Satan 
for the Sign of the Cross be the measure of 
our love for the adorable sign, and our confi- 
dence in it. 

You shall see to-morrow, that it has other 
claims on these two sentiments. 



* See Gretzer, De Cruce, lib. iv. c. 32, pp. 628, 629. 



ELEVENTH LETTER. 



The Sign of the Ceoss is a teeasuee that efbiches us, 
because it is a prayer: proofs — a powerful prayer: 
Proofs — A universal prayer: Proofs — It supplies all oub 
wants — For his soul max needs lights — The Sign of the 
Cross obtains them- Proofs— Examples of the Martyrs. 

December 6th. 

The Sign of the Cross is a treasure which 
enriches us; this is one of the reasons of its 
being. It enriches us, because it is an excel- 
lent prayer. This is, my dear friend, as you 
have not forgotten, the point of doctrine we 
have just established. 

Half the proof has already been given. It 
is in the antiquity, the universality, the per- 
petuity 7 of the Sign of the Cross. In the 
midst of the shipwreck in which the idolatrous 
world allowed so many primitive revelations 
^ to be lost or damaged, we see the Sign of 
the Cross floating on the surface. What says 
this strange fact, new to you, incomprehen- 
sible to a great number, but most reasonable 
to the Christian accustomed to reflect? It 



130 



The Sign of the Cross 



speaks eloquently of the high utility of the 
Sign of the Cross for man, because it tells 
its powerful efficacy over the heart of God. 
From reasoning, let us proceed to facts. 

The Sign of the Cross is a prayer; a pow- 
erful, universal prayer. 

It is a prayer. What is a man who prays? 
He is one who confesses his indigence before 
God; his intellectual, moral, and material 
indigence. He is a beggar at the rich man's 
door. Now, the beggar prays with his voice, 
but more eloquently by his pale and emacia- 
ted face, by his infirmities, his tattered clothes 
and his attitude. Thus prayed on the Cross 
the adorable Mendicant of Calvary. In that 
state, the Son of God was more than ever 
the object of the infinite complacency of His 
Father. He Himself tells us that that elo- 
quent prayer, more in action than in words, 
w r as the powerful lever which drew all things 
to Him* 

What does a man do when he forms the 
Sign of the Cross, either with his hand, or by 
extending his arms? He impresses upon 
himself the ima^e of the Divine Mendicant; 
he identifies himself with Him. It is Jacob 
clothing himself w r ith the garments of Esau, 



* John, xii. 33. 



In the Nineteenth Century. 131 

that he may obtain the paternal benediction. 
What does he say to God? By this attitude 
of faith, humility, and devotedness, he says: 
" Behold in me your Christ, respice in faciem 
Christi tui;" a prayer more eloquent than 
all the words that could be spoken. "It 
ascends," says St. i\mbrose, "and the alms 
descend." Asce?idit deprecatio et descendit Dei 
miseratio. 

Such is the Sign of the Cross, even without 
a formula. It does not speak, yet it says all. 
It is a powerful prayer. When an agent 
of the authorities, a commissar}' of police, 
mayor, or gendarme, lays his hand upon a 
culprit, he says : "I arrest you in the name of 
the law." In the words, " In the name of the 
law," the guilty man sees the authority of his 
country, the strength of the army, the judges, 
the king himself ; and he allows himself to be 
taken. 

When, then, man, threatened by danger, 
assailed by doubts, persecuted by temptation, 
a prey to suffering and sickness, pronounces 
these words of solemn authority, " In the 
name of the Father, and of the Son, and of 
the Holy Ghost," and while pronouncing 
them makes the sign by which the world has 
been redeemed, and hell vanquished, how can 



132 The Sign of the Cross 

you explain the continued resistance of evil ? 
Has not man fulfilled all the conditions of 
success ? Is not God, in some way, obliged 
to intervene, and by His intervention, to 
glorify His name and the power of His 
Christ? 

The particular efficacy of the Sign of the 
Cross has never been doubted, either by the 
Church, or by Christian generations. The 
gravest theologians teach even that the Sign 
of the Cross operates of itself, and indepen- 
dently of him who makes it. They give us 
several proofs : I will cite only two. 

The first, is the custom of incessantly re- 
peating the Sign of the Cross. " If it did not 
produce," say they, " its effects of itself, 
Christians would have no reason for making 
use of it so frequently. What good would 
it do to have recourse to it, when a motion 
of the soul, or any good action whatsoever, 
would suffice to obtain or realize what they 
hope to obtain or realize by the Sign of the 
Cross ?"* 

The second, rests on facts celebrated in 
history, and of incontestable authenticity : I 
will relate a few. 



** Gretzer, lib. iv. c. 62, p. 703. Gregorius de Valentia, 
Suaxez, Bellaramus. Pyraeus. et alii. 



In the Nineteenth Century. 



133 



The first, is that of Julian the Apostate. A 
deserter from the true God, that emperor, 
becomes, by an inevitable conclusion, an 
adorer of the demon. To learn the secrets 
of the future, he seeks throughout Greece for 
men in communication with the Evil Spirit. 
A sorcerer presents himself, who promises to 
satisfy his curiosity. Julian is conducted into 
a temple of the idols. The conjurations are 
pronounced, and the emperor sees himself 
surrounded by demons, whose appearance 
fills him with terror. 

By a gesture of thoughtless fear, he makes 
the Sign of the Cross, and the demons disap- 
pear. The sorcerer complains, and repeats 
his incantations. The demons reappear. 
Julian forgets himself again, and at the Sign 
of the Cross the spirits of darkness again 
take flight* 

This fact, related by St. Gregory Nazianzen, 
Theodoret, and other Fathers of the Church, 
caused great excitement in the East. 

The second, is better known in the West. 
We have it from Pope Saint Gregory. The 
illustrious pontiff commences his relation by 
the following words. "The fact which I am 
about to relate, is not doubtful, for it had 

* Orat. I., contr. Julian. 

11 



134 



The Sign of the Cross. 



almost as many witnesses as the town of 
Fondi numbered inhabitants.* 

" A Jew journeying from Campania to Rome 
by- the Appian Way, arrived at the small town 
of Fondi. It being- very late, he could find no 
lodging, and went to pass the night in an old 
temple of Apollo. He felt afraid of that 
ancient dwelling of the demons, and although 
not a Christian, took care to arm himself 
with the Sign of the Cross. 

" Frightened at his solitude, he remained 
awake until midnight. Suddenly he saw a 
troop of demons, who seemed to be coming 
to pay homage to their chief, who was seated 
at the head of the temple. As they presented 
themselves, he interrogated each in particular 
as to what he had done to lead men into sin. 
All revealed to him their artifices. In the 
midst of the discourse one advanced, who 
related that he had succeeded in making the 
venerable bishop of the city feel the sting of 
a terrible temptation. 

"'Until now, 1 said he, 'my labor was in vain, 
but last evening: I succeeded in making him 
give a slight tap on the shoulder of the holy 
woman employed in his house.' 

"'Continue/ answered the ancient enemy 



f Dial., lib. iii. c. 7. 



In the Nineteenth Centtiry. 135 



of mankind, ' continue and finish what you 
have begun, and so great a victory shall 
bring you an extraordinary reward/ 

* Meanwhile the Jew, the witness of the 
spectacle, could scarcely breathe. In order 
to make him die of fear, the president of the 
infernal assembly, knowing of his presence, 
ordered them to inform him who was that 
rash man who had dared to take shelter 
in the temple. The evil spirits approached, 
but seeing him marked with the Sign of the 
Cross, cried out: 'Woe! woe! an empty 
vessel, sealed! Vce> vce! vas vacuum et signa- 
turn/ 9 At those words, the infernal troop 
disappeared. 

"The Jew, on his side, hastened to depart. 
He hurried to the church, where he found 
the venerable bishop. Calling him aside, he 
related all that had happened to him, and 
how he had learned of the slight tap given to 
his servant, and what was the project of the 
demon. Surprised beyond measure, the 
bishop immediately dismissed her, and from 
that time forbade all persons of the other 
sex to enter his house. He consecrated the 
old temple of Apollo, in honor of St Andrew, 
and the Jew was converted."* 



* Dial., lib. iii. ch. 7. 



136 



The Sign of the Cross 



Let us relate another fact. We read in 
the Ecclesiastical History of Nicephorus, that 
under the emperor Mauritius, Chosroes II., 
king of Persia, sent an embassy to Constan- 
tinople, and that all the Persians who com- 
posed it had the Sign of the Cross marked 
on their foreheads. 

The emperor asked them why it was that 
they bore a sign in which they did not 
believe. 

"What you see on our foreheads/' said 
they, "is the testimony of a signal favor which 
we received some time ago. A pestilence 
was ravaging our country, and some Chris- 
tians advised us to mark the Sign of the Cross 
on our foreheads, as a preservative against it. 
We believed them, and have been saved, 
although nearly all our families were cut off 
by the scourge."* 

After these facts naturally follows the re- 
flection of the great Bishop of Hippo, which 
seems decisive in favor of the teachings of 
theologians. "We must not be surprised, ,, 
says he, "at the power of the Sign of the 
Cross when it is made by good Chris- 
tians, since it has so much strength when em- 
ployed by strangers, who do not believe in 



* Hist., lib. xviii. c. 20. 



In the Nineteenth Century. 137 



it, and this happens for the glory of the 
great King."* 

That we may remain within the limits of 
orthodoxy, we must, however, add that the 
Sign of the Cross does not operate of itself, 
purely and simply, but in as much as is useful 
for our salvation and that of others. It is 
the same with it as with certain other prac- 
tices, such as, for example, exorcisms, to 
which no divine promise attaches effects 
infallible and unconditional. 

I add, that the piety of him who makes the 
Sign of the Cross contributes to its efficacy. 
This sign is a silent invocation of Jesus Cru- 
cified; consequently, it is so much the more 
efficacious, as it is made with greater fervor. 
Again, the invocation with the heart or the 
mouth is so much the more likely to obtain 
its effect, as the Christian who makes it is 
more virtuous and more agreeable to the 
Lord.f 

It is a universal prayer. In one sense the 
Sign of the Cross may say, like our Saviour 
Himself; "All power has been given to me 
in heaven and on earth." Here, more than 
anywhere else, we must, my dear Frederic, 
reason with facts. They are so numerous 

* Lib. de 83 qmest., quaest 79. \ Gretzer, ubi supra. 
12* 



133 



The Sign of the Cross 



that the only difficulty is to choose among 
them. AH, and each in its manner, proclaim 
on one side the faith of our ancestors, and on 
the other,, the empire of the Sign of the Cross 
over the visible and invisible worlds. It pro- 
vides for all the wants of both soul and body. 

For his soul, man has need of lights; the 
Sign of the Cross obtains them. St. Porphy- 
ria, Bishop of Gaza, is obliged to dispute with 
a Manichean woman. In order to dispel, by 
the clearness of his reasoning, the darkness 
with which the unfortunate woman is sur- 
rounded, he makes the Sign of the Cross, and 
light shines on that darkened intellect. 

Julian, the crowned sophist, provokes a 
controversy with Caesarius, brother of St. 
Gregory Xazianzen. The generous athlete 
enters the lists armed with the Sign of the 
Cross. To an enemy perfect in that art of 
warfare, and skilful in his manner of reason- 
ing, he opposes the standard of the Word, 
and the spirit of lies is caught in his own 
snares.* 

St. Cyril of Jerusalem, so powerful in 
words and deeds, orders recourse to be had 
to the Siom of the Cross everv time that he is 
to engage in combat with the pagans, and he 



* S. Greg. Xazian. In laud Caesar. 



In the Nineteenth Century. 139 



assures them that they shall be reduced to 
silence.* In the temporal order, no less than 
in the spiritual, divine lights are necessary to 
man; they also are obtained by the Sign of 
the Cross. The emperors of the East, the 
successors of Constantine, when they had to 
speak before the Senate, always began by 
the Sign of the Cross.f 

As we have already seen, St. Louis, before 
discussing in council the affairs of his king>- 
dom, always conformed himself to this most 
ancient and religious practice. 

If, after the example of the greatest princes 
who have governed the world, the emperors 
and kings of the nineteenth century should 
have recourse to the Sign of the Cross, do 
you think that affairs should be in a worse 
state than they are ? As for me, I am as 
convinced as I am of my own existence, that 
they would be much better. 

Are not those who govern now, as much 

in need of light as those who governed in 

former times ? Do they pretend to find it 

elsewhere than in Him who is its source ? 

Do they know of a means more certain o 

invoke Him with success ? Do not all a^es 

<_> 

bear witness to its efficacy ? Does not the 



* Cuteeb., xiii. 



t Covipp. Deland. Justin, jim. 



140 The Sign of the Cross 



Church, which ought to be their oracle, con- 
tinue to proclaim it? Is there a council, a 
conclave, or a religious assembly that is not 
begun with the Sign of the Cross ? Do the 
Catholic priests, faithful inheritors of tradi- 
tion, ever speak from the pulpit without 
being armed with this sign of strength and 
light ? In this they observe the precept of 
the ancient Fathers. 

" Make the Sign of the Cross," says St. 
Cyril of Jerusalem, " and you shall speak; 
Fac hoc signum et loqueris "* 

What I have said of kings, my dear friend, 
must be said of all those who are charged 
with teaching others. 

Is not the Incarnate Word the God of 
science and of all sciences, the Professor of 
professors, the Master of masters ? 

If the Sign of the Cross presided over all 
the lessons that are now given, over all the 
books that are now printed, do you think we 
would be inundated, as we are, with errors, 
sophistry, false ideas, and incoherent systems, 
whose incontestable result is to cause the 
modern world to sink again into that intellec- 
tual darkness, from which Christianity has 
drawn it? 



* Catech. illuminat., iv. 



In the Nineteenth Century, 141 



For his soul, man needs strength: the Sign 
of the Cross is the fruitful source of it. Look 
at your illustrious ancestors, the martyrs. 
From what did they seek the courage to 
triumph in their heroic combats ? From the 
Sign of the Cross. Generals of armies, cen- 
turions, soldiers, magistrates, senators, patri- 
cians, and plebeians, children and aged men, 
matrons and young virgins, all were careful 
when descending into the arena, to cover 
themselves with this invincible armor: insu- 
perabili christianorum armatura. 

Come with me ; I will name a few to you. 
In Caesarea, see that generous martyr, who 
walks to the place of execution surrounded 
by an immense concourse of people. It is 
the centurion Gordius. See him, calm and 
collected, arming his forehead with the 
Sign of the Cross.* 

What is that town in Armenia, situated in 
the midst of snows, and on the borders of a 
frozen lake ? It is Sebaste. Behold, coming 
here in the evening, forty men, bound with 
cords, and stripped of their garments, who 
are being dragged to the midst of the lake, 
condemned to pass the night there. Who 
are they? Forty veterans of the army of 



* S. Basil, Orat. in S. Gord. 



142 The Sign of the Cross 



Licinius. A superhuman force of resistance 
is so much the more necessary, because on 
the shore, warm baths are prepared for those 
who will apostatize. They make the Sign of 
the Cross, and an heroic death comes to 
crown their courage.* 

We have seen the young Agnes as a living 
Sign of the Cross amidst the flames. Behold 
other Christian virgins, born like her in the 
Golden Age of the martyrs. The first is St. 
Thecla, illustrious by her birth, more illustri- 
ous by her faith. The executioners have 
seized upon her; they conduct her to the 
funeral pile ; she mounts it with a firm step, 
makes the Sign of the Cross, and remains 
calm and tranquil in the midst of the flames. 
At the same moment, the rain descends 
in torrents, the flames are extinguished ; 
and, like the children of Babylon, the young 
heroine comes forth from the fire without 
one hair of her head being injured."}* 

The second is St. Euphemia, no less cele- 
brated than the first. Upon the orders of the 
judge, the instruments of torture are made 
ready in an instant. The young virgin is 
about to be stretched on the wheel: she 
makes the Sign of the Cross, and advances 



Encom. in 40 SS. Martyr. f Ado, in Martyrol., Sept. 23. 



In the Nineteenth Century. 143 



towards the frightful engine, bristling with 
iron spikes; she gazes on it without any 
terror, and by that glance, causes it to fly 
into fragments.* 

Look again. We stand in one of the 
Roman praetoriums, so often crimsoned with 
the blood of our fathers, so often the wit- 
nesses of their sublime answers and their 
heroic constancy. It is during the persecu- 
tions of Decius ; you know that sanguinary 
emperor, that execrable animal, as Lactantius 
calls him : execrabile animal Decius. Before 
the judge stands a band of Christians. The 
accuser comes, according to custom, to charge 
them with all sorts of crimes. They are 
already condemned ; they know it. What do 
they do ? Raising their eyes to heaven they 
make the Sign of the Cross, and say to the 
proconsul, " You shall see that we are 
neither cowardly nor faint-hearted."-} - Were 
I to continue this list, I should have to cause 
the innumerable army of martyrs to pass 
before you in review. 

There is not one of those valorous soldiers 
of the Crucified, w T ho, in going to combat, did 
not bear the standard of his King-. Let it 

* Apud. Sur. t. v. et Baron. Martyrol. , Sept. 16. 
f Apud. sur. Apr. 13. 



1 44 The Sign of the Cross 



suffice to name a few. St. Julian and St. 
Pontian, St. Constant and St. Crescent, St. 
Isidore, St. Nazarius and St. Celsus, St. 
Maximinus, St. Alexander, St. Sophia and 
her three daughters, St. Paul and St. Juliana, 
St. Cyprian and St. Justina.* 

Taken from all countries and all conditions, 
they bear witness that it was a universal 
custom among the martyrs to arm them- 
selves with that sign of strength, before 
entering the lists with men, with beasts, or 
with the elements. 

But better still ; fearing that the weight of 
the chains would prevent them from forming 
the Sign of the Cross, they ask the Chris- 
tians, their brethren, or the priests, their 
fathers, to arm them with the victorious sign. 
Corribonus, converted to the faith by the 
martyr St. Eleutherius, goes himself into the 
amphitheatre to seek the crown of martyr- 
dom. 

" Pray for me," says he to his father in 
Jesus Christ, "and arm me with the Sign of 
the Cross, the same with which you have 
armed Felix the general. 

Glyceria, the noble daughter of a father 
thrice consul, is seized and cast into a narrow 



* See their Acts. 



f Apud. sur., Apr. 18. 



In the Nineteenth Century. 145 



prison. The first act she performs on seeing 
herself in the hands of her enemies, is to beg 
the holy priest, Philocratus, to make the Sign 
of the Cross on her forehead. The priest 
grants her desire, saying, " May this sign of 
the Crucified fulfil all your desires."* They 
are all accomplished. 

The young heroine descends into the amphi- 
theatre. At the moment she is about to 
gather the palm of victory, she turns towards 
the Christians, who mingle with the crowd, 
and says with all the spirit of a warrior about 
to die for his flag : " Brethren, sisters, chil- 
dren, fathers, and all you who hold to me the 
place of a mother, beware ; watch over your- 
selves, and consider well who is the Emperor 
whose mark and sign is engraved on our 
foreheads."-}- 

You have heard it; in the Sign of the 
Cross all the martyrs sought for strength. 
And would they have looked for strength 
from a nonentity? Would the great Em- 
peror for whom they died, have allowed them 
to remain in an incurable illusion ? If any 
one believes this, let him give his proofs. 

I shall write soon again. 



* Apud. sur., Apr. 18, t. iii. et Baron, t. ii, f Ibid. 

13 



TWELFTH LETTER. 



Perpetual necessity of the Sign of the Cross to obtain 
strength — Its recommendation and practice rt the chiefs 
of the spiritual combat — the slgn of the cross in temp- 
TATIONS — The Sign of the Cross at death — Examples of 

THE MARTYRS — EXAMPLES OF TRUE CHRISTIANS DYING A NATU- 
RAL DEATH — THE DYING CAUSED THE SlGN OF THE CROSS TO BE 
MADE ON THEM BY THEIR BRETHREN. 

December 1th. 

Dear Frederic: 

The Sign of the Cross has lost nothing of 
its power or necessity. It is true, that the 
tryants are dead, and the amphitheatres in 
ruins. The Sign of the Cross has vanquished 
the one and overthrown the other. If the 
second are not rebuilt, the first, from time to 
time, arise from their graves. The race of 
Neros shall never be extinct ; the most for- 
midable is yet to 'come. With ancient fury, 
those who have appeared since the Caesars 
have decimated the Christians ; that other 
race equally immortal, that race devoted to 
death, as Tertullian says, expeditum morti 
genus. What they did yesterday in the 
146 



The Sign of the Cross. 147 



West, they do to-day in the East ; they will 
do again to-morrow wherever they shall 
reign. 

Advice to combatants :— let no one forget 
where is the source of strength. Until that 
time, remember, dear friend, that peace has 
also her martyrs, habet et pax marfyres suos. 
Who is the man who does not carry within 
himself one or more Neros ? Is there one 
dav of his rational life, or even hour, in which 
he has not to watch and to fight ? What do 
I say? Twenty times a day, seducing objects 
present themselves before him, evil thoughts 
importune his mind, rebellious senses solicit 
his heart to commit the basest treasons, O ! 
how greatly is he in need of strength ! 

Where shall he find it? In the Sio;n of the 
Cross. The testimony of ages, the experi- 
ence of both veterans and young soldiers, 
attest to-dav, as thev did yesterday, the sove- 
reign power of the Sign of the Cross to dis- 
sipate seductive charms, expel evil thoughts, 
and repress the motions of concupiscence. 

Listen to Prudentius, the poet of the mar- 
tyrs, who knew both the details of their 
triumphs and the secret of their victories, 
"When, at the call of sleep, you go to your 
chaste bed, make the Sign of the Cross on 



1 48 The Sign of the Cross 



your forehead and heart. The Cross shall 
preserve you from all sin ; before it shall fly 
the powers of darkness ; the soul sanctified 
by this sign, cannot waver."* 

Hear also those generals of the eternal 
confbat, those great geniuses and great 
saints, consummate in the art of spiritual 
warfare, which is called asceticism; they all, 
with one voice, recommend Christian soldiers 
to make use of the Sign of the Cross. 

"Do you feel your heart inflamed ?" says 
St. Chrysostom. " Make the Sign of the 
Cross on your breast, and your anger shall 
be dissipated like smoke. 

And St. Augustin: — "Does Amalec, your 
enemy, try to bar the way and hinder you 
from advancing? Make the Sign of the 

o o 

Cross, and he shall be vanquished. "J 

And Mark, the great servant of God, who 
foretold to the emperor Leo the hour of his 
death: — "I have learned by my own expe- 

* Fac cum vocante somno 
Castum petis cubile, 
Frontem locum que cordis 
Crucis figura signet : 
Crux pellet omne crimen, 
Fugiunt crucem fcenebrae. 
Tali dicata signo 
Mens fluetuare nescit. 
Apud S. Greg. Turori., lib. i. Miraculi., c. 106. 
f In. Math. Horn. 88. % Lib. 50. HomiL, Homii. 20. 



In the Nineteenth Century. 149 



rience, that the Sign of the Cross appeases 
interior troubles, and procures the health of 
the soul. As soon as the Sign of the Cross 
is made, grace operates ; all is appeased, the 
flesh as well as the heart."* 

St. Maximus of Turin: — "It is from the 
Sign of the Cross we must expect the cure 
of all our wounds. If the venom of avarice 
be diffused through our veins, let us make 
the Sign of the Cross, and the venom shall 
be expelled. 

"If the scorpion of voluptuousness sting 
us, let us have recourse to the same means, 
and we shall be healed. 

"If grossly terrestrial thoughts seek to 
defile us, let us again have recourse to the 
Sign of the Cross, and we shall live the 
divine life/'f 

St. Bernard: — -"Who is the man so com- 
pletely master of his thoughts as never to 
have impure ones ? But it is necessary to 
repress their attacks immediately, that we 
may vanquish the enemy there where he 
hoped to triumph. The infallible means of 
success is to make the Sign of the Cross. "t 

St. Peter Damian: — "If you feel a bad 



* Biblioth. pp. t. v. ' f Apud. S. Ambr. serm. 55. 

% De passion. Dom. c. xix. n. 05. 

13* 



The Sign of the Cross 



thought arise in your mind, immediately 
make the Sign of the Cross with your thumb, 
and be assured that it shall be dissipated. "* 
The pious Ecberth : — ''Nothing is more 
efficacious than the Sign ot the Cross to 
dissipate temptations, even the most shame- 
ful.'^ 

To sum up all those testimonies: — " What- 
ever may be the temptations that oppress 
us," concludes St. Gregory of Tours, "we 
must repulse them. For this end, we should 
make, not carelessly, but courageously, the 
Sign of the Cross, either on our forehead or 
our breast."J 

If it were necessary, one thousand facts 
could be given to confirm what you have just 
heard. One will suffice. It is a revelation 
with which a fervent religious, named Patro- 
clus, was favored, and by which God showed 
him the sovereign power of the Sign of the 
Cross against temptation. 

One day, the demon, transforming himself 
into an angel of light, appeared to the vener- 
able abbot. He tried to persuade him, with 
artful words, to abandon his solitude and 
return to the world. But the man of God 

f Lib. yiar. Domin., c. xxi. 

% Ubi supra. 



* Ijistit. Monast. 



In the Nineteenth Century. 151 

feeling a pestilential fire coursing through 
his veins, prostrated himself in prayer, and 
begged God to make him accomplish His 
holy will His prayer was heard. An angel 
appeared to him and said : " If you desire to 
know the world, ascend this column, and see 
what it is." 

Being ravished into an ecstasy, the pious 
solitarv believed he saw before him a column 
of prodigious height. He ascended it, and 
beheld homicides, thefts, massacres, fornica- 
tions, and all the enormous crimes of the 
universe. " Alas I" exclaimed he, as he de- 
scended, "alas, my Lord, do not permit that I 
should ever return to the midst of so many 
abominations." 

The ancrel answered : " Cease then to 
regret the world, lest you perish with it. Go 
rather into your oratory, to pray the Lord 
that you may find support in the midst of the 
trials of your pilgrimage." He obeyed, and 
there found the Sign of the Cross engraved 
on a brick. He understood the gift of God, 
and knew that that sign was an impregnable 
fortress against temptation.* 

A martyr of war, or a martyr of peace ; 
such is man during his life. What is he in 

* Greir. TuroD.. Vit. Part., c. 9. 



152 The Sign of the Cross 

death ? Look at that sick man, a prey to 
pain, abandoned by everybody, or sur- 
rounded by parents and friends who are 
utterly powerless. Behind him, time, which 
flies ; before him, eternity, which advances, 
and into which he finds himself passing, with- 
out any human power being able to retard 
the moment of his departure, or mitigate the 
anguish of the journey. That sick man is 
you, my dear friend ; it is I, it is every man, 
rich or poor, subject or monarch. If, during 
the warfare of life, we stand in need of light, 
strength, consolation, and hope ; tell me, is 
not our need a thousand times greater in the 
decisive struggle of death ? Well ! the SigTL 
of the Cross supplies all. Under this new 
point of view, how dear was it to our ances- 
tors, and how dear ought it to be to us ! 

As the martyrs, when going to their last 
combat, failed not to fortify themselves with 
the Sign of the Cross, so the true Christians 
of every age have had incessant recourse to 
the same sign, to alleviate their sufferings 
and sanctify their deaths. I will cite a few 
examples. 

Speaking of his beloved sister, St. Macrina, 
whom he himself assisted in her last mo- 
ments, St. Gregory of Nyssa, writes as fol- 



In the Nineteenth Century. 



153 



lows: "'Lord/ said she, 'in order to put die 
enemy to flight, and to protect the lives of 
those who fear thee, thou hast given them 
the Sign of the Cross.' In pronouncing these 
words, she formed the adorable sign on her 
eyes, her lips, and her heart."* 

His illustrious brother, St. Gregory Nazi- 
anzen, defying the demon, said to him: "If 
you dare to attack me at the moment of my 
death, beware : for I shall put you shamefully 
to flight by the Sign of the Cross. "f 

Instead of making it with the hand, the 
early Christians very frequently, when dying, 
extended their arms. This is what they called 
"The evening sacrifice, sacrifichim vesperti- 
num" To this manner of making the Sign of 
the Cross, Arnobius applies the words of the 
Psalmist, "The lifting up of my hands is my 
evening sacrifice," and says: "May such be 
our evening sacrifice, I mean that of the 
evening of our lives, when we are really about 
to offer the evening sacrifice; and may our 
attention be directed to raise our hands in the 
form of a Cross, that we may rejoice in the 
Saviour Jesus, at the moment that we go to 
Him."j " 

It was in the like attitude that St. Paul, the 



*Yit. S. Macr. 



f Carm. 22. 



% In Ps. 140. 



154 



The Sign of the Cross 



patriarch of the desert, died, and in which he 
was found by St. Anthony.* 

The same spectacle was presented by St. 
Pachomius. " Being at the point of death," 
says the author of his life, " he armed himself 
with the Sign of the Cross ; beheld with great 
joy the angel of the Lord approaching him, 
and gave up his holy soul to God."f 

In the same manner died St. Ambrose. 

"On the last day of his life," writes the 
priest Paulinus, "from about the eleventh 
hour until he gave up his holy soul to God, 
he prayed with his arms extended in the form 
of a Cross. "J 

From Milan let us proceed to Constanti- 
nople. Behold another bishop at the point 
of death. " St. Eutychius," says his historian, 
" was seized with a violent fever towards the 
middle of the night. He remained in that 
state for seven days, never ceasing to pray 
and to fortify himself with the Sign of the 
Cross. § 

Let us end our journey by passing through 
France ; let us assist at the deaths of some of 
her kings. Let us stop for a moment at Aix- 
la-chapelle, and behold the last moments of 



* S. Hier., De Vit. S. Paul. 
JPaulin. in Vit. S. Ambr. 



f Life of St. Pachomius, c. 53. 
| Apud. sur. Jul. 2. 



In the Nineteenth Century. 



155 



the great emperor. "The next day being 
come," says a bishop, an eye-witness, "Char- 
lemagne, knowing what he ought to do, ex- 
tended his right hand, and as well as he could 
made the Sign of the Cross on his forehead, 
his breast, and every part of his body."* Thus 
did that great man before his death. 

Look at his son, Louis the Pious. "Having 
arranged all his affairs, and made his last 
requests, he ordered that the evening office 
should be recited near him, and a relic of the 
true Cross be placed upon his breast. Dur- 
ing that time he himself, as much as his 
strength allowed, made the Sign of the Cross 
on his forehead and his heart. When he 
became too weak, he begged his brother to 
continue to do it for him."f 

Let us come to one of his successors, the 
most worthy of the throne, the good King 
Robert. During the last days of his life, he 
never ceased, both by voice and gesture, to 
call the saints of heaven to his aid, and con- 
tinually fortified himself by making the Sign 
of the Cross on his forehead, eyes, nostrils, 
lips, throat, and ears, in memory of the Incar- 
nation of our Lord, of His Nativity, Passion, 
Resurrection and Ascension, and of the Holy 



* Thegan. De gestis Ludov. Imper. f Apud. Gretzer. 



156 



The Sign of the Cross 



Ghost. Such had been, during his life, die 
custom of this prince, who was never wil- 
fully without having holy water with him.* 

Let us cite another, Louis le Gros. Seeing 
himself near death, he caused a carpet to be 
laid on the ground, and ashes to be spread 
over it in the form of a Cross. Being laid by 
his officers upon that bed, which reminded 
him of that of the King of Calvary, the virtu- 
ous monarch continued to make the Sign of 
the Cross even to his last breath.f 

For a king to die like a God; is there any- 
thing degrading in this? What degrades a 
man, is to die without understanding death, to 
die with the insensibility of a beast. 

You have seen that the martvrs, fearing* 
that when dying they should not be able to 
make the Sign of the Cross themselves, beg- 
ged their Christian brethren to make it for 
them. The same was done by our ancestors 
who died a natural death. Besides the ex- 
ample of Louis le Debonnaire, of whom you 
have just read, I will remind you of a few 
others. Taken from the first ages, they will 
show the perpetuity of the tradition. 

St. Zenobius, the intimate friend of St. 
Ambrose, being on the point of terminating 



* IIelgald. ? in Epitoni. Yit, Kobert. f Gretzer, p. 617. 



Li the Nineteenth Century. 157 



his beautiful life by a precious death, raised 
his hand and made the Sign of the Cross on 
every person around him. Then he begged 
the bishops to make on him with their conse- 
crated hands, the sign of strength, hope, and 
salvation.* 

From the death-bed of a priest let us pass 
to that of one of the faithful. Behold here a 
devoted daughter, who assists her tender, her 
illustrious mother. In our day the greater 
number content themselves with bestowing 
on their dearest friends only material cares. 
They would reproach themselves, were they 
to omit the least prescription of the phy- 
sician. But what of Christian assistance? 
What of the prescription of the Divine Phy- 
sician, and of our Mother, the Church? With 
what care do they attend to those ? To the 
most devoted bodily care, our ancestors, far 
w 7 iser and better than we, added the reme- 
dies of the soul. 

Then in Bethlehem, the illustrious daugh- 
ter of Fabius, St. Paula, lies at the point of 
death. By her bedside is Eustochium, wor- 
thy daughter of her mother. How is that 
angel of tenderness occupied ? 

u She never ceased," says St. Jerome, "to 

* Apud. sur. May 25. 

14 



158 The Sign of the Cross. 



form the Sign of the Cross on the lips and 
breast of her mother, endeavoring to alle- 
viate her sufferings by the impression of that 
consoling sign."* 

You see then, that both in life and death, 
the Sign of the Cross was constantly employed 
by our ancestors to obtain for themselves and 
others, light, strength, resignation, courage, 
and hope. "What a great thing, then, is the 
Sign of the Cross !" cries out, with good rea- 
son, one who was witness to its admirable 
effects. Magna res signunt cruris.^ To-mor- 
row we shall see its efficacy in a new order 
of things. 

*In Epitaph Paulse. 

f S. Elig. De rectitud. Catech., etc., inter op. S. Aug. t. vi. 




THIRTEENTH LETTER. 



Effects of the Sign of tee Cross in tee tempoeal op. dee — ■ 
it cures aee diseases and removes whatevee can harm u3 
— It gives sight to the blind, heaeing to the deaf, speech 
to the dumb, the use of their limbs to the lame and 
paralyzed; cures other maladies, a^d restores life to 

THE DEAD. 

December StTi, 

Poor and indigent in the spiritual order, 
man is not less so in the temporal; his body 
and soul subsist only by alms, 

Among the good things necessary for the 
body, there are two in particular, my dear 
friend, which I will point out to you ; health 
and security. The Sign of the Cross is effi- 
cacious to procure both one and the other. 

Health. The Incarnate Word is the living- 
and vivifying life. Speaking of Him when he 
dwelt among men, the Gospel tells us in 
words as simple as sublime, "a virtue came 
forth from Him which healed all diseases ; 
virtus de illo exibat et sanctbat omnes" 

History teaches us that these words may 
be applied in their full extent to the Sign of 



i6o 



The Sign of the Cross 



the Cross. Nothing is more fully established 
than that this sign was used by the first 
Christians to heal the sick. St. Cyril, and St. 
John Chrysostom, the one patriarch of Jeru- 
salem, the other of Constantinople, assure 
us positively, that the Sign of the Cross 
continued in their time, as well as in that of 
their ancestors, to cure the sick, and heal the 
bites of ferocious beasts.* 

Let us come to proofs. All man's senses 
are subject to disease; let us begin with the 
most noble, the sight. If, instead of continu- 
ally poring over pagan authors, our young 
students had sometimes read the acts of the 
martyrs, they would have seen in those of St. 
Laurence the striking miracle of which the 
Church sings even to this day, qui per signum 
cruris ccecos illuminavit. 

The illustrious archdeacon of Rome had 
entered the house of a Christian, in which 
was a blind man named Crescentius, who, 
melting into tears, threw himself at the feet 
of the saint, saying: " Place your hand over 
my eyes, that I may see you." The blessed 
Laurence, deeply affected, said : " May our 
Lord Jesus Christ, who opened the eyes of the 
man born blind, give you light." At the same 



* Catech., xiii; S. Chrys. In Math., bom. 54. 



In the Nineteenth Century. 161 



time he made the Sign of the Cross on the 
eyes of Crescentius, who saw the light and 
the blessed Laurence, as he had desired."* 

The learned Theodoret relates of his own 
mother what follows : " My mother had a 
sore eye, which baffled all the resources of 
medicine. We had turned over the leaves 
of every volume, and examined all the old 
authors, but none gave the remedy applicable 
to the present evil. We were all there, when 
a friend of my mother's called to see her. She 
told her of a man of God, named Peter, and 
related a miracle which had been operated by 
him. 'The w T ife of the Governor of the East/ 
said she, 'had the same disease as vou. She 
addressed herself to Peter, who is from Per- 
gamus, and he cured her by praying for her 
and making on her the Sign of the Cross.' 

"My mother lost not one instant. She 
went to find the man of God, threw herself 
at his feet, and conjured him to heal her. He 
answered, T am but a poor sinner, and am 
far from possessing that power w T ith God 
which you suppose me to have.' My mother 
redoubled her entreaties and tears, protesting 
that she would not leave him until he had 
cured her. 



* A pud sur., Aug. 10. 

14* 



162 



The Sign of the Cross 



" •God/ said he to her, 'is the Physician for 
those evils.* He always hears the prayers 
of those that believe. He will hear you, not 
in view of my merits, but because of your 
faith. If then, yours is sincere, true, pure, and 
without doubt, laying aside medicine and phy- 
sicians, accept the remedy that God gives 
you; At these words he stretched his hand 
over her eye, made the Sign of the Cross, 
and the disease was healed."*} - 

Facts nearer our time will show you that 
in traversing centuries, the Sign of the Cross 
has never ceased to be the best oculist. St. 
Eligius, Bishop of Xoyon, in crossing one 
of the bridges in Paris, cured a blind man, 
who. instead of asking for alms, begged him 
to make the Sign of the Cross on his eves.f 

A miracle very like this is seen in the life 
of St. Frobert, abbot of a monaster)' near 
Troves in Champagne. He was yet only a 
child, when his mother, who had been blind for 
many years, took him on her knee ; then em- 
bracing and caressing him, she asked him to 
make the Sign of the Cross on her eves. The 

*The saint reasoned like Ambrose Pare, the father of French 
surgery: "I dress it, and God cures it." 
f Hist. S. S. Pater, in Petro. 

i Life of the Saint, by S. Owen. Bp. of Rouen, c. xxix. 



In the Nineteenth Century, 163 



young saint at first refused, but at length 
overcome by her maternal entreaties, he in- 
voked the name of the Lord, made the Sign 
of the Cross as required, and at that instant 
his mother recovered her sight,* 

In the life of St. Bernard,, Mabillon cites 
more than thirty blind persons of every age 
and condition, in France, Germany, and Italy, 
cured in the presence of kings and great 
nobles, by means of the Sign of the Cross, 
made over them by the Thaumaturgus of 
Clairvaux.t 

From the sight let us pass to the hearing. 
Like our Lord Himself, the Sign of the Cross 
makes the deaf to hear, and the dumb to 
speak. 

Behold us in the midst of the great city of 
Rome, in the palace of the prefect. Before 
us stands a young and brilliant officer; he 
is called Sebastian. This name, illustrious 
among all others, is never heard in our cob 
leges. You must know, then, that St. Sebas- 
tian was commandant of the first pretorian 
cohort, under Diocletian. In our modern 
language we would say, colonel of a regiment 
of the Imperial Guard. 

Endowed with eloquence equal to his intre- 



-His Life. Dee, 31st. 



fT. II. 



1 64 The Sign of the Cross 



pidity, he employed the gifts of God to en- 
courage the martyrs who were brought daily 
to the pretorium. One day Zoe, the wife of 
the prefect of Rome, who had been dumb for 
six years, had the happiness of assisting at his 
discourse. Although a pagan, she was so 
much moved that she cast herself at the feet 
of the saint, and tried to make him understand 
by gestures that she desired to be cured. 

She was understood. The Sign of the 
Cross made on her mouth instantly restored 
her speech, and the first use she made of it 
was to ask for baptism. * 

Tell them, also, that by the same sign the 
immortal Abbot of Clairvaux, St. Bernard 
cured a number of deaf and dumb persons. 
At Cologne, a girl deaf for many years; at 
Bourlemont, a child deaf and dumb from her 
birth ; at Bale, a deaf man ; at Metz, a deaf 
person in presence of an immense concourse 
of people ; at Constance, at Spire, at Maes- 
tricht, persons both deaf and dumb; at Troyes, 
a lame and dumb girl in presence of the 
bishops, Geoffrey of Langres and Henry of 
Troyes. In fine, at Clairvaux, a deaf and 
dumb child, who had been awaiting his arri- 
val for fifteen days.f 



* Act. de S. Sebast. 



f Mabillon, abi supm. 



In the Nineteenth Century. 165 



While the saint was at Spire, where he 
wrought many miraculous cures, Anselm, 
bishop of Havelsperg, arrived there. He 
had a very sore throat, and was scarcely able 
either to speak or swallow. 

" You ought to cure me also/' said he to 
St. Bernard. 

" If you had as much faith as these good 
women/' answered the Abbot of Clairvaux, 
pleasantly, " I could, perhaps, render you 
the same service." 

"If my faith is not sufficient," answered 
the bishop, "let yours cure me." 

The saint touched him, making the Sign of 
the Cross, and the pain and swelling disap- 
peared at the same instant.* 

Diffused throughout the whole body, the 
sense of touch is that which presents a greater 
surface to the attacks of disease. How can 
we detail the evils, more or less painful, to 
which it is exposed? 

But numerous as they are, it is consoling 
to know that none can elude the salutary 
power of the Sign of the Cross. By its vir- 
tue we recognize Him who healed all kinds 
of maladies among the people ; omnem Ian- 
guo7'em in popido. 



* Vit. lib. vi. c. 5. n. 19. 



1 66 



The Sign of the Cross 



St. Germanus, one of the most holy and 
amiable bishops that have governed the dio- 
cese of Paris, was one day o-oino- to visit St. 

Hilary of Poitiers, his worthy colleague. As 

✓ » j <_> 

he was on his way, two men brought to him 
with great difficult}' a poor woman both lame 
and dumb. The saint had no sooner made 
the Sign of the Cross on her, than she recov- 
ered her speech and the use of her limbs. 
Three days afterwards, she went to return 
thanks to her benefactor.* 

A like miracle was wrought by St. Euthv- 
mius, the great archimandrite of Palestine. 
Terebon, son of the governor of the Saracens, 
in Arabia, had been from his early youth 
paralyzed in one half of his body. Having 
heard the holy abbot spoken of, he begged to 
be conducted to him; his request was granted, 
and his father and a great number of the 
barbarians accompanied him. The saint 
made the Sign of the Cross on Terebon, who 
was immediately cured. This cure was fol- 
lowed by the conversion, not only of the 
father and son, but also of the Saracens, the 
companions of their journey and witnesses of 
the miracle. 

Long afterwards, St. Vincent Ferrer ope- 



* Vila, c. xlvi. 



In the Nineteenth Century. 167 



rated in France the same prodigy as that 
which had rejoiced the East. As he was at 
Nantes, they brought him a man who had 
been paralyzed for eighteen years, and asked 
him to Pfive him his blessing. " I have neither 
gold nor silver," said the saint to the sick 
man, " but I pray our Lord to give you health 
of body and soul." Then he made the Sign 
of the Cross over his limbs. At the same 
moment the paralytic, entirely cured, rose up 
and gave thanks to God and the saint; then 
he returned home, and never again felt his 
former disease.* 

Such is, sometimes, the violence of pain, 
that it occasions delirium, and thus deprives 
the unfortunate son of Adam of the health 
both of body and soul. The Sign of the 
Cross forces the malady from this new en- 
trenchment. 

Edmer, the historian of St. Anselm, arch- 
bishop of Canterbury, relates that the holy 
man in going to Cluny, cured, by means of 
the Sign of the Cross, a woman who had lost 
her mind, and become furious.f 

St. Bernard did the same at Sechingen and 
Cologne. In the latter city, they presented 
to him a woman who had become a maniac, 



* Fleury. Hist. eccl. lib. xxiv, n. 28, f Vit. S. Anselm, lib. ii. 



1 68 The Sign of the Cross 



on account of the death of her husband 
and child. The unfortunate woman employed 
all her strength against herself, so that they 
were obliged to keep her in chains. The 
saint, moved with compassion, made the Sign 
of the Cross over her, by which she was 
immediately restored to her reason and full 
possession of her faculties.* 

The Word, the Redeemer, whom the Gos- 
pel so often shows to us curing the most 
obstinate fevers, has communicated to the 
Sign of the Cross the virtue of operating the 
like prodigies. 

St. Prixus, bishop of Clermont in Auvergne, 
having arrived at the monastery of Darouge 
in the Vosges, found the abbot Amarinus ill 
with so malignant a fever, that he was unable 
to walk or to swallow anything, except a few 
drops of water. The holy bishop had re-, 
course to his ordinary weapons, and paid for 
his welcome by a miracle. He made the 
Sign of the Cross on the sick man, who rose 
up, perfectly cured.f 

It has the same power with regard to epi- 
lepsy, a malady much more difficult to be 
healed. In the life of St. Malachy, archbishop 



* Mabillon, ubi supra, lib. iv. c. 6. n. 33. 
f Life of SS., Jan. 26th. 



In the Nineteenth Century. 169 



of Armagh, who died at Clairvaux, St. Ber- 
nard says: " Before starting for Rome, whither 
he was going to receive the pallium from the 
hands of Pope Eugenius III., the holy arch- 
bishop restored health to an epileptic by 
making the Sign of the Cross on the breast 
of the unfortunate man, who used to fall 
dow r n many times in a day. 

St. Bernard himself wrought a similar mir- 
acle in favor of a girl from Troyes, in Cham- 
pagne. Such had been the malignity of the 
disease, that she had lost the power of 
speech. The holy abbot imposed hands and 
made the Sign of the Cross over her; at the 
same moment, being restored to complete 
health, she spoke to those present.* 

Our Lord has said, "After my example, 
heal the lepers." His disciples have received 
this command, and its divine virtue has passed 
into the Sign of the Cross. St. Francis 
Xavier filled the East with the renown of his 
name. His fame reached the ears of a leper 
who during many years had sought in vain 
for his cure. Not daring to appear in public, 
he conjured the saint to visit him. 

Xavier, being much occupied, could not 
yield to the desires of the poor man, but sent 

* Mabillon, ubi supra, c. xiv. n. 47. 

15 



1 70 The Sign of the Cross 



one of his companions to ask him if he would 
believe in the Gospel, in case he should be 
healed. If he promised to embrace the faith, 
the deputy was to make the Sign of the Cross 
over him three times. All was done as 
Xavier had ordered. Scarcely had the leper 
given the promise, when his body became as 
clean as if he had never been infected with 
the leprosy.* 

Before going further, dear friend, I believe 
I ought to insert here a remark of St. Chry- 
sostom, which may be applied to the healing 
of diseases, or the prevention of accidents 
and scourges by the Sign of the Cross. If, 
notwithstanding its power, the Sign of the 
Cross, even when made with good disposi- 
tions, does not always cure the one, and ward 
off the other, it is not because its virtue is 
wanting, but because it is useful for us 
to be tried.f 

There is a disease no less painful than 
leprosy, and much more common; it is the 
cancer. It cannot resist the power of the 
Sign of the Cross any more than other in- 
firmities. Hear the following fact, related by 
St. Augustin, an eye-witness. 

"At Carthage," says he, "lived a pious lady 



* Life, lib. v. p. 349. 



t Ad. Coloss. ii. Homil. ix. 



In the Nineteenth Century. 



171 



named Innocentia, who belonged to the most 
illustrious family in the city. She had on her 
breast a cancer, a horrible malady, which the 
physicians regard as incurable. It must be 
extracted to the very roots, or, in order to 
procure some slight relief for the patient, 
liniments must be continually employed. 
Then, according to Hippocrates, when the 
malady is evidently mortal, it is useless to 
make the patient suffer more. 

"Her physician, who was an intimate friend 
of the family, had concealed nothing from her. 
Innocentia turned to God by prayer, confiding 
in Him alone to work her cure. One night 
near Easter, she was warned in a dream to go 
to the baptismal font, on the women's side, 
where the catechumens were waiting, and to 
cause the Sign of the Cross to be made on 
the diseased part by the first catechumen 
that should present herself before her. She 
obeyed, and was instantly healed. 

"The physician who had announced to her 
that the disease was incurable, finding her 
perfectly restored, hastened to inquire what 
remedy she had employed. She related what 
had taken place. Then with an air of in- 
difference, which made the pious lady fear that 
the words were not very respectful to our 



172 The Sign of the Cross 



Lord, the physician replied : * I expected to 
hear something extraordinary from you !' 
But seeing her become very uneasy, he has- 
tened to add: 'Is it extraordinary that the 
cancer has been cured by Jesus Christ, by 
Him who raised to life a man who was four 
days dead? 5 "* 

Never was miracle better attested; the 
whole city was witness to it. 

To natural maladies are often added, to 
the injury of man's health, the attacks of 
ferocious or venomous beasts. The remedy 
to those wounds is again the Sign of the 
Cross. 

"The holy anchoret Thalassius," writes 
Theodoret, " travelling by night, trod acci- 
dently upon a sleeping viper. The reptile 
awoke, and in its fury plunged its fangs into 
the sole of his foot. The saint stooped and 
placed his right hand on the wound. The 
viper bit it also, and did not spare the left, 
which hastened to the assistance of the right. 
Having satiated its rage, and given more 
than ten bites, the reptile glided into its hole, 
and left its victim a prey to intolerable pain. 
In this circumstance, no more than in any 
other, the servant of God had not recourse 



* De Civ. Dei, lib. xxii. c. 8. 



In the Nineteenth Century. 173 

to human remedies. To cure his wounds he 
employed the remedies of faith, the Sign of 
the Cross, prayer, and the invocation of the 
name of the Lord."* 

Master of life, our Lord is also Master of 
death. This sovereign empire is found in 
the Sign of the Cross. See what we read in 
the life of St. Dominic. Being in Rome, he 
preached one day in the ancient church of St. 
Mark. Among his auditors was a Roman 
lady called Guttadona, who was much devoted 
to the servant of God. In order to hear the 
sermon, she had left one of her children, who 
was sick ; at her return she found it dead. 
Without making any useless show of grief, 
she took her servants with her, and carried 
the child to St. Dominic. She met him at the 
gate of St. Sixtus's convent, placed the child 
before him, fell at his feet, and with many 
tears begged him to give her back her son. 
The saint, moved with compassion, cast him- 
self on his knees, and after a short prayer 
made the Sign of the Cross on the child, took 
him by the hand, raised him full of life, and 
gave him to his mother, recommending her 
to preserve absolute silence. But in the 
excess of her joy, the lady published the 



15* 



* In Thalass. 



i 74 The Sign of the Cross 



miracle, and the whole city of Rome was soon 
informed of it. 

Two centuries earlier we find St. John 
Gualbert. This noble and saintly warrior had 
pardoned the murderer of his brother. God 
rewarded him by giving him a religious voca- 
tion, and the power of working miracles. 
The Sign of the Cross became his sword 
against the demon. Furious at his numerous 
defeats, the great homicide armed his agents, 
who during- the night attacked the monas- 
tery, burned the church, demolished the build- 
ings, and mortally wounded all the religious. 
The saint hastened to the rescue, and with 
the Sign of the Cross restored them to life 
and health.* 

You understand, my dear Frederic, that I 
have given only one or two cases of each 
malady. 

Immense volumes would not suffice to 
contain them all. St. Augustin, St. Chrysos- 
tom, St. Cyril, St. Ephraim, St. Gregory of 
Nyssa, St. Paulinus, and a hundred other 
witnesses from the East and the West, in 
every age, prove by thousands of facts that 
the adorable Sign of Him who came to cure 
all our maladies, has not ceased to restore 



* £ee his Life. 



hi the Nineteenth Century, 175 

sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, speech 
to the dumb, health to the sick, and life to the 
dead. 

Look at history. We must either accept 
it, such as it is, or tear out all its pages 
and fall into scepticism, or write another 
more learned and more worthy of credit. 
Ask your comrades if they feel competent 
to undertake it; then when it is finished we 
shall see. 

Adieu until to-morrow. 




FOURTEENTH LETTER. 



The Sign of the Cross a preservative against all that 

COULD INJURE LIFE OR HEALTH — It APPEASES TEMPESTS — 

Extinguishes fire — Protects us against accidents — Opposes 
a barrier to floods — causes the waters to return to 
their bounds — Keeps ferocious beasts at a distance — Pre- 
serves from poison — From thunderbolts — Makes creatures 
the instruments of prodigies. 

December 9th. 

Powerful as is the Sign of the Cross to 
give health and life, my dear friend, it is not 
less so to keep at a distance whatever might 
be injurious to them. Here again we find 
abundant facts, but the limits of a letter will 
allow me to cite only a few. Since the ori- 
ginal revolt, all the elements submitted to the 
influence of the demons, are conjured up 
against man. Air, fire, water, and what not, 
wage against him a war, continual and often 
deadly. A universal weapon has been given 
us to defend ourselves; it is the Sign of the 
Cross. 

The God whose voice commanded the 
winds and the tempests, commands them 
176 



The Sign of the Cross* 



*77 



again by the sign of our redemption. We 
read in the life of St. Nicetus, bishop of 
Treves, that when going to his diocese, he 
fell asleep on board the vessel in which he 
had taken passage. In the midst of the voy- 
age, a violent wind agitated the waves, the 
sails were torn, the masts broken, and the 
vessel seemed ready to sink. The terrified 
passengers aroused the saint, who tranquilly 
made the Sign of the Cross over the angry 
waves, and a calm immediately succeeded the 
storm.* 

According to the belief of the Church, so 
clearly expressed in the Roman Pontifical, 
the demon is a great gatherer of clouds. 
Over the air, his region and that of his in- 
numerable legions, he exercises a particular 
influence. How many times does he use 
it to desolate the country, and above all, to 
throw obstacles in the way of those who work 
for the destruction of his empire ! 

Because of the immense crowds that has- 
tened to hear the sermons of St. Vincent 
Ferrer, one of his most powerful opponents, 
he was almost always obliged to preach in 
the open air. In order to hinder the preach- 
ing, the demon rarely failed to raise storms, 

* S. Greg. Puron, De gloria confess., c. xvii. 



T/S The Sign of the Cross 

which the saint was obliged to dissipate. One 
of the most fearful was that which he dissipa- 
ted by the Sign of the Cross and holy water. 
It happened in a town of Catalonia., on the 
feast of the holy apostles, Peter and Paul, 
after he had celebrated Mass, and before he 
had taken off the sacerdotal vestments.* 

Like air, fire obeys the Sign of the Cross. 
St. Tiburtius, son of the prefect of Rome, was 
sentenced either to offer incense to idols, or 
to walk on a bed of fire. The young martyr 
made the Sign of the Cross, and without the 
least hesitation advanced into the middle of 
the burning coals. Standing barefoot on them, 
he said to the judge : "Now renounce your 
errors, and acknowledge that there is no 
other God than ours. Place, if you dare, 
your hand in boiling water in the name of 
Jupiter. Let that Jupiter whom you call your 
God, prevent you from feeling the burning 
heat. As for me, I feel as if I were on a bed 
of roses. "f 

Sulpicius Severus relates as having heard 
it from St. Martin himself, that one night the 
chamber in which the Thaumaturgus of the 
Gauls was reposing, caught fire. Awakening 
in a fright, the Saint tried to extinguish the 



* yit. lib. iii. 



f Act. S. Sebast. 



In the Nineteenth Century. 179 



flames, which were already consuming his 
clothing. His efforts were useless. All at 
once he returned to himself, and no longer 
thought of extinguishing the fire, or saving 
himself, but, full of confidence, he made the 
Sign of the Cross. The flames immediately 
separated, and forming an arch over his 
head, permitted him to continue tranquilly 
his prayer.* 

Let me relate another fact concerning this 
great bishop. 

Martin, the indefatigable enemy of idolatry, 
had demolished a very famous and ancient 
pagan temple. He wished also to cut down 
a pine tree that stood near it because it was 
an object of superstition. The chief priest 
and other pagans opposed him. At length 
they said to the courageous bishop: "Since 
you have so much confidence in your God, 
we will cut down the tree ourselves, on con- 
dition that you stand under it when it falls.'' 
The condition was accepted. 

In presence of an innumerable crowd, the 
saint allowed himself to be tied to that side 
of the tree on which it leaned. His com- 
panions were in mortal terror. Meanwhile 
the tree, half-cut, seemed ready to fall; in 

* Epist. I. ad Euseb. presbyt., et vit. S. Martini, lib. x, 



1 80 The Sign of the Cross 



another moment, the venerable bishop would 
have been crushed. What did the man of 
God do ? He calmly raised his hand and 
made the Sign of the Cross. At the same 
instant the tree became straight, and as if 
blown by a violent wind, fell on the contrary 
side. 

A cry of admiration arose from the assem- 
bled multitude, nearly all of whom demanded 
baptism.* 

What took place among the Gauls was 
renewed also in Italy. The venerable abbot, 
Honoratus, founder of the monastery of 
Fundi, one day saw that holy asylum, in 
which dwelt two hundred religious, threatened 
with total ruin. From the summit of the 
mountain, at the foot of which the monastery 
was built, a large rock had been detached, 
and threatened to crush everything with its 
weight. The saint hastened to invoke the 
name of the Lord, and extending his right 
hand, opposed to the rock the sign of salva- 
tion. The enormous mass suddenly stopped 
in its course, and remained immovable on the 
side of the mountain; a position which it 
retains even to this day.f 

From the West let us pass to the East. 



* Id ubi supra. 



t S. Greg. Dial., lib. i. c. 1. 



In the Nineteenth Century. 1 8 1 



We shall see that the sovereign power of the 
Sign of the Cross is not limited by difference 
of climate, nor degrees of latitude or longitude. 
Let us listen to St. Jerome. u The universal 
earthquake which followed the death of 
Julian the Apostate, caused the seas to over- 
flow their bounds. As if God threatened the 
world w 7 ith a second deluge, in which all 
things should return to their ancient chaos, 
vessels were left on the tops of mountains, 
whither the furious billows had carried them. 
The inhabitants of Epidaurus, seeing the 
frightful pools of water on the hills, and 
dreading lest their town should be submerged, 
as had happened before, w^ent to find the holy 
old man, St. Hilarion. They placed him at 
their head, as if they had been going out to 
combat. Being arrived at the shore, the saint 
made the Sign of the Cross three times on 
the sand, and extended his hand towards the 
raging waters, which were advancing. It is 
incredible to what a height the sea rose at 
that sign, and remained so before him. But 
after having raged for a long time, as if angry 
at the obstacle opposed to it by Hilarion, its 
waves subsided and retired, not daring to 
cross the sacred limits. Epidaurus and the 
whole country still relate the miracle; mothers 

" r '"' 16 



1 82 The Sign of the Cross 



tell it to their children, that the memory of it 
may descend to posterity."* 

The following is a similar, but more recent 
fact. 

Our French historian, Mezeray, relates that 
in 1 1 96, heavy rains caused the rivers and 
ponds to overflow, and produced an inunda- 
tion like a veritable deluge. They knew no 
other means to stay the flood than prayer, 
public processions, and supplications. They 
were employed. No sooner was the Sign of 
the Cross made upon the waters, than they 
retired within their limits.*}" 

If Moses' rod, which was only the figure of 
the Sign of the Cross, could divide the waters 
of the Red Sea and hold them suspended like 
mountains, why should not that sign itself 
cause floods to return to their bounds? 

Let us return to the immortal Thebaide, 
and allow me to relate a few other marvels 
of which its angelic inhabitants were the 
actors, and the Sign of the Cross the instru- 
ment. One of them, Julian, surnamed Sabas, 
or the white-haired old man, is traversing the 
barren solitude. On his way he meets an 
enormous dragon, which casts on him a rav- 
enous look, and opens its horrid jaws to 

* Vit. S. Hilarion, vers. fin. f Hist, of France, t. ii. p. 135. 



In the Nineteenth Century. 183 

devour him. Without the least emotion, the 
venerable anchoret slackens his pace, invokes 
the name of the Lord, makes the Sign of the 
Cross, and the dragon dies.* 

A little later, behold Marcian, a solitary of 
Syria, who renews the same miracle. While 
he is praying at the door of the cell, Eusebius, 
his disciple, who is at a little distance from 
him, sees a monstrous reptile on the wall at 
the east side, ready to spring on the saint to 
devour him. Eusebius, horrified, cries out 
with all his strength, conjuring his master to 
fly. Marcian reproves him for his fear, makes 
the Sign of the Cross, blowing it towards the 
fearful monster. Behold the effects of the 
primitive words : "I will put enmity between 
her seed and thine." The breath which 
comes from the mouth of the saint is like a 
flame, which burns the dragon so much, that 
it falls in pieces like a reed burned by 
fire.f 

It would be easy to multiply instances of 
facts accomplished in those ever-celebrated 
places. But that we may group together 
wonders of the same nature, let us come to 
Italy, even if we be compelled to return to 
the East. 



* Theodoret, Relig. Hist. c. 2. 



t Ibid. 3. 



184 The Sign of the Cross 



St. Gregory the Great, relates that St. 
Amantius, a priest of Citta di Castello, in 
Umbria, had such power over the most veno- 
mous and terrible serpents that they -could 
not live before him. With one Sign of the 
Cross he caused all those around him to 
perish. When they went into their holes, he 
sealed them in with the Sign of the Cross, 
and afterwards they were taken out dead, 
killed by an invisible power. Thus has been 
accomplished the words of the Master, " They 
shall kill serpents : serpe?ites tollent"* 

You know that our Lord immediately 
adds: "And if they shall drink any deadly 
thing, it shall not hurt them : et si mortiferum 
quid biberint non eis nocebity I will give a few 
proofs from among thousands. St. Julian 
was bishop of the city of Bosra in Idumea. 
Out of hatred of his religion,- some of the 
principal inhabitants formed a plot to poison 
him. They bribed the bishop's servant, pro- 
cured poison and charged him to put it in his 
master's cup. The unhappy man obeyed. 

Being divinely instructed as to all that had 
passed, the saint took the cup, placed it be- 
fore him, and without touching its contents 
said to his servant: "Go, in my name, and 



* Dialog., lib. iii., c. 35. 



In the Nineteenth Century. 185 



invite the principal inhabitants of the city to 
dine with me." He knew that among them 
should be found the guilty ones. All accepted 
the invitation. Then the holy man, being 
unwilling to expose any one, said with an- 
gelic sweetness: "As it is your wish to 
poison the humble Julian, here is the poison, 
I am going to drink it." He made the Sign 
of the Cross three times over the cup, saying, 
"In the name of the Father, and of the Son, 
and of the Holy Ghost, I drink this cup." 
He drained it to the last drop and received no 
injury. At this sight, his enemies fell at his 
feet and begged his pardon.* 

One must be a Bachelor of the nineteenth 
century to be ignorant of the following fact. 

If there is a man whose life should be 
known in its minutest details, it is St Bene- 
dict, the patriarch of the Western monks. 
Like another Moses, is it not by him and his 
children that Europe has been drawn from 
barbarism ? Show us a piece of waste land, 
either moral or material, that the Benedic- 
tine has not cultivated; a civilizing principle 
that he has not matured, taught, practised, 
at the price of efforts which God alone 
knows. 



* Sophron., in Prat. spir. 

16* 



j86 



The Sign of the Cross 



What we do know is that Satan, the old 
Pharaoh, left no means untried to hinder the 
benevolent work. No sooner had Benedict 
retired into his solitude than he beheld coming 
to him a few monks unworthy of the name; 
they asked to be taken under his care. The 
saint gave them a rule, and by word as well 
as example, endeavored to bring them under 
the yoke of regular discipline. 

Vain effort! Example wounded their pride, 
words provoked their anger, and aroused 
their hatred. They took a resolution to poi- 
son their venerable superior. They mixed 
poison in the wine, and filled a glass with it, 
which they presented to him, that he might 
bless it, according to the custom of the mo- 
nastery. Benedict stretched forth his hand, 
made the Sign of the Cross, and by this 
sacred sign, as by the blow of a stone, the 
poisoned glass w^as shivered into fragments. 
The saint understood that they had presented 
him with the cup of death, from which he had 
been preserved by the Sign of the Cross.* 

From these examples, and a thousand 
others, you may see, dear friend, what a 
powerful prayer is the Sign of the Cross, 
with how many graces it enriches us, and 



* S. Greg., lib. ii, c. 3. 



In the 'Nineteenth Century, 187 



from how many dangers it preserves our frail 
existence. 

Let us come now to another application of 
the protecting sign. 

In France, Spain, Italy, and I believe in 
your own country, Catholics are accustomed 
to make the Sign of the Cross when it thun- 
ders and lightens. Those who doubt nothing, 
take this for weakness, as if the true Catho- 
lics of the eighteen centuries which have 
preceded us, were all weak-minded persons 
and superstitious women. 

Now, in the circumstance indicated above, 
and in all unforeseen dangers, we find the 
Sign of the Cross in use. among the Christians 
of the East and the West, from the first ages 
of the Church. St. Ephrem, St. Augustin, St. 
Gregory of Tours, and a thousand other wit- 
nesses, have seen it in our stead, and affirm it. 

" If, on a sudden," says the deacon of 
Edessa, " the lightning flashes from the 
clouds, and the thunder bursts with a crash, 
man is terror-stricken, and all in fear, we 
bow ourselves to the earth."* 



* Ser. de cruce. The saint speaks of the Sign of the Cross, 
and though he does not name it, it is clear that it was made in 
this circumstance, since they never failed to make it in even 
+ ,Le most ordinary actions. 



xS8 



The Sign of the Cross 



Speaking of those who frequent worldly 
assemblies, St. Augustin adds : "If, by chance, 
anything affright them, they immediately make 
the Sign of the Cross."* 

St. Gregory relates as a thing of public 
notoriety, that under the impression of fear, 
or at the approach of any danger whatsoever, 
the Christians had recourse to this sign, their 
protector. And not in vain ; among thou- 
sands we choose the following proof. 

Two men were journeying from Geneva to 
Lausanne. They were soon overtaken by a 
violent storm, accompanied with vivid light- 
ning and repeated claps of thunder. Accord- 
ing to the traditional custom of Christians, 
one of the travellers made the Sign of the 
Cross on himself. The other scoffed at him, 
and said: "Are you chasing the flies? Leave 
those superstitions to old women. Such 
mummeries are a disgrace to religion, and 
unworthy of an intelligent man."f 

He had scarcely finished speaking, when 
a thunderbolt stretched him dead at the feet 
of his companion. 

Then the first, more than ever, continued 
to protect himself by the Sign of the Cross. 

-Lib 50, Homil., homil. 21. 

f Lib. ii. Miracul. S. Martin, c. 45. 



In the Nineteenth Century. 189 



His journey was happily terminated, and he 
related everywhere what had happened to 
him,* 

A warning to the strong-minded, who are 
secured against thunderbolts. 

The Sign of the Cross protects not only 
the life of man, but is also a pledge of secur- 
ity for all that belongs to him. Thence comes 
the universal use of this liberating sign over 
houses, fields, fruits and animals. 

"Catholics," says the grave Stuckius, "have 
prayers, accompanied by the Sign of the Cross, 
for every creature in particular; water, leaves, 
flowers, the Paschal lamb, milk, honey, cheese, 
bread, vegetables, eggs, wine, oil, and the 
vessels that contain them. In each formula 
they ask expressly for the removal of the 
malicious power of the demon, and health for 
body and soul. 

" On the day of the Resurrection they bless 
milk, honey, meat, eggs, loaves of bread, 
everything that they keep or give, as being 
salutary for the soul. On the day of the 
Assumption, herbs, plants, roots and the fruit 
of trees, to communicate to them a divine 
virtue. 

"On St. John's day, wine, which without 



* Tilinan, Collect, of the Holy Fathers, Book vii, c. 58, 



190 



The Sign of the Cross 



this blessing they regard as impure and the 
principle of evil. On St. Stephen's, the pas- 
tures, on St. Mark's, the grain. In this they 
follow the precept of St. Paul, who bids the 
faithful bless all that' is used for the support 
of life, and return thanks for them : — myste- 
rious usages for which theologians give ex- 
cellent reasons."* 

In their turn, those creatures, delivered 
from the influence of the demon, become, 
thanks to the Sign of the Cross, instruments 
of the powerful goodness of the Creator. 

We read in St. Gregory of Tours, that a 
pestilential malady made such ravages among 
animals, that people began to ask themselves 
if the species would not become wholly 
extinct. In their desolation, some country 
people came to the basilica of St. Martin, 
and took thence holy water, and the oil from 
the lamps. Having carried it to their homes 
they made the Sign of the Cross with it on 
the heads of the cattle who had not as yet 
been attacked, and gave it as a drink to those 
who were at the point of expiring; all were 
instantly cured.f 

Let us cite a last example of the protecting 



* Antiq. convivial, lib. ii. c. 36. p. 430* 
f Lib. iii. Mirac. S. Mart, e xviii. 



In the Nineteenth Century. 191 



power of the Sign of the Cross. St. Ger- 
manus, bishop of Paris, was on his way to 
meet the relics of St. Symphorian, Martyr. 
As he was passing by a village, the inhabit- 
ants came and begged him to take pity on a 
poor woman named Panitia, whose little field 
of wheat was ravaged by bears, "Come," 
said they to him, " come, and look at that 
poor field, so that the malicious beasts may 
fly from your presence, " 

Notwithstanding the opposition of those 
that accompanied him, the saint went to the 
place, and made the Sign of the Cross over 
the little heritage. Very soon two bears 
came to the spot; transported with fury, they 
fell upon each other; one w 7 as left dead upon 
the field, the other being mortally wounded, 
was dispatched with a spear, and the poor 
widow had never again occasion to deplore 
the loss of her harvest.* 

History abounds in similar facts, but let 
this suffice for to-day. 



* Fortunat. In Yit. S. Germ. 



FIFTEENTH LETTER. 



answer to a question — the slgh oe the cross is a weapon 
which repulses the enemy — llfe is a warfare — against 
whom? — Necessity of a weapon within the reach of 
every one — what is that weapon? — proofs that the slgn 
of the Cross is the special weapon, the most forcible 
weafon against the evil spirits. 

December 10ft. 

If you communicate my last letter to your 
companions, it is probable, my dear friend, 
that they will say to you: 11 If the Sign of the 
Cross is as powerful as he writes to you, why 
does it no longer do what it has done?'' 

To this question there are many answers. 

The first is given by St. Auoaistin. In 
speaking of miracles,, the great doctor makes 
a very just observation. "The miracles," 
says he, "recorded in the holy books, have a 
great publicity. As everybody reads or hears 
them read, no one is ignorant of them. This 
is as it should be, because they are the proofs 
of faith. 

" To-day, also, miracles are operated in the 
name of the Lord, by the sacraments, by 
192 



The Sign of the Cross. 



*93 



prayers, and at the tombs of the saints, but 
they are far from having the same notoriety 
as the first. They are known in the places 
where they are wrought, but if it be in a 
considerable city, they will scarcely be known 
to all; nay, it often happens that but very few 
are informed of them. When they relate 
them to others or in other places, the autho- 
rity of their testimony is not such as to 
be admitted without difficulty or hesitation; 
although thev be related bv Christians to 
other Christians."* 

In proof of what he advances, the saint 
relates many miracles operated under his 
eyes, some of them by the Sign of the Cross. 
Therefore, because your companions or other 
persons know not the miracles accomplished 
in our day by the Sign of the Cross, there is 
no reason to conclude that it operates them 
no longer. 

To this first answer, a second naturally 
links itself. It is from another great doctor, 
Pope St. Gregory. Distinguishing former 
times from the present, he says: "At the 
beginning of the Church, miracles were ne« 
cessarv. It was bv them that the faith of 
the people was confirmed. When we plant -a 

* De civ, Dei, lib. xvii, 

IT 



1 94 The Sign of the Cross 



tree, we water it until it takes root. As soon 
as we are assured that it will grow, the 
watering is stopped. This is what the apostle 
says: 'The gift of tongues .is a sign, not for 
the faithful, but for infidels.*"* 

It is the same with moral improvement as 
with material. Now that Christianity has 
taken root even in the bowels of the earth, 
miracles are not as necessary as at the time 
of the divine planting. Already fifteen hun- 
dred years have rolled away since St. 
Augustin said: "He who in our days asks 
prodigies in order to believe, is himself the 
greatest of prodigies. "f 

For a moment replace the world in the 
same circumstances as it was at the birth of 
the Church, and you shall see the Sign of the 
Cross renewing all its primitive miracles. 
Listen to contemporary history. 

"Would you believe it?" writes one of our 
missionary bishops, " ten villages are con- 
verted! The demon is furious, and strikes a 
hundred blows. During the fifteen days that 
I have been preaching, there have been five 
or six possessions. With holy water and the 
Sign of the Cross, our catechumens expel the 
devils, and cure the sick. I have seen some 



* Ilouiil. xxix. in Evang. 



f Vbi supra. 



In the Nineteenth Century. 195 



marvellous things. The devil helps me 
very much to convert the pagans. As in the 
time of our Lord, although the father of lies, 
he cannot prevent himself from telling the 
truth. 

"Behold this poor man, possessed with an 
evil spirit, making a thousand contortions, 
and crying out: 4 Why do you preach the true 
religion? I cannot endure that you should 
take away all my disciples/ 'What is* your 
name?' asks the catechist. After some refu- 
sals, he answers : 'I am the envoy of Lucifer/ 
'How many are you?' 'Twenty- two/ Holy 
water and the Sign of the Cross delivered 
the possessed."* 

But even admitting, which I do not, that 
the Sign of the Cross no longer works mira- 
cles among Christian people, by how many 
superhuman effects does it not reveal its 
power at each hour of the day and night, 
throughout Christendom? If we suppose one 
hundred million temptations in the day, we 
may hold it for a certainty that more than 
three-fourths of them are dissipated by the 
Sign of the Cross. Who has not had expe- 
rience of this in himself? Judge from this; 

* Letter of Mgr. Anouilh, Bishop of Abydos, missionary in 
China. Tching-Ting-Fou, province of Pekin, March 12th, 1862. 



196 The Sign of the Cross 



and remember that what you do, others do 
also; you may by this estimate the universal 
and permanent power of the Sign of the 
Cross, the liberator. 

I will go further, and admit that the Sign 
of the Cross does not always succeed in 
chasing away importunate thoughts, in dis- 
pelling seductive charms, or in withdrawing 
the soul from the verge of the abyss; but with 
whom lies the fault? Is it not on account of 
the little faith of the Christians of our day? 
Must we not say, with regard to the inefficacy 
of the Sign of the Cross, what we, with good 
reason, say of the fruitlessness of Holy Com- 
munion in a great number — that the fault is 
not in the food, but in the disposition of him 
that eats: Defectus nan in cibo est, sed in 
edentis dispositione ? 

It is with a view to cure this want of faith, 
which impoverishes and ruins Christians, that 
I have undertaken this correspondence. I 
shall continue it by developing another title 
which the Sign of the Cross possesses, to the 
confidence of the Catholics of the nineteenth 
century. 

They are soldiers, the Sigx of the Cross 
is a weapon which repulses the enemy. 
More than three thousand years have 



In the Nineteenth Century. 197 



elapsed since Job defined the life of man to 
be a continual warfare : militia est vita hominis 
super terram. Ages have rolled away, gen- 
erations have succeeded generations, empires 
have given place to other empires; twenty 
times has the face of the world been renewed, 
yet Job's definition has always remained true. 

Life is a warfare; a warfare for you as well 
as for me, as for your companions, for the 
rich as well as the poor. It is a warfare begun 
at the cradle, to end only at the tomb; a war- 
fare for every moment of the night and day, 
in sickness and in health. It is a decisive 
warfare; on the victory depends not fortune, 
health, nor the temporal advantages we es- 
teem so highly, but infinitely more than all 
those — an eternity of happiness, or an eter- 
nity of woe. 

Such, my dear friend, is man's condition 
here below; we can change nothing of it. 
Who are his enemies, yours, mine? Ah! 
who is there that does not know them, not 
only by name, but by their attacks? The 
devil, the world, and the flesh; three formi- 
dable enemies, bent on our ruin. As I have 
not the slightest idea of giving you a com- 
plete course of asceticism, I shall occupy 
myself only with the first. 



198 The Sign of the Cross 



As sure as there is a God, so sure also 
there are demons. "Xo Satan, no God/' said 
Voltaire, and he was right. If there is no 
Satan, there was no fall, no redemption, no 
Christianity; no Christianity, all is false ; the 
human race is foolish, and there is no God. 

Now the demons are fallen angels. By 
their intelligence, strength and agility, they 
are far superior to man. Their number is 
incalculable. Until the day of the last judo- 
ment they have for their abode the atmosphere 
which surrounds us. Jealous of the sons of 
Adam for being called to enjoy the happi- 
ness they have lost, their occupation both day 
and night is to lay snares for us; to excite 
our passions, to cause us to be placed in 
dangerous positions, to obscure in us our 
esteem for the faith, to stifle remorse, and 
to blunt our moral sense, in order to make 
us the accomplices of their revolt, the com- 
panions of their torments. All these truths 
are, I repeat, as certain as the existence of 
God. 

Tyrants over man by sin, the demons are 
also such over creatures subject to man; the 
king being vanquished, all his subjects belong 
to the victor. Distributed throughout all 
parts of the creation, and in each creature in 



In the Nineteenth Century. 199 



particular, they penetrate them with their 
malignant influence. Within the limits of the 
power that has been given them, they make 
it the instrument of their hatred against man, 
against his soul and body. This is also a 
dogma of universal belief. 

What does he know, who is ignorant of 
this? Nothing. And he who doubts it? 
Less than nothing. He who denies it, de- 
serves no longer to be numbered among 
intelligent beings. 

Now the struggle and man being given 
such as they are, can you conceive it pos- 
sible that Divine Wisdom would have left 
mankind without defence? Must you not, on 
the contrary, understand as clearly as that 
two and two make four, that in order to 
equalize the struggle, God has given to man 
a powerful, a universal weapon, always at 
hand and within the reach of every one. 
What is this weapon ? 

Let us ask all ages, particularly Christian 
ages. With unanimous voice they answer, 
that it is the Sign of the Cross. The constant 
use which they have made of it, gives the 
answer. This point of view illuminates all 
the history of the Sign of the Cross. It 
highly justifies the conduct of the primitive 



200 The Sign of the Cross 



Christians, and no less highly condemns our 
own. There is nothing more certain than 
that this sign is the especial weapon, the 
powerful weapon against Satan and his an- 
gels. Tell me — when we want to know the 
value of a cannon, a carbine, or any other 
arm of new invention, in what way do we 
proceed ? 

We do not blindly trust to the inventor. 
The authorities name a committee; the 
weapon is tried in presence of competent 
judges. The judgment which they form 
decides the value of the engine of war sub- 
mitted to their examination. 

Let it be the same with the Sign of the 
Cross; only remember that the divine sign 
is not a weapon of new invention. It is 
old, very old, but it is neither rusty, nor 
weak, nor worn out. 

As to the commitee of examination, it has 
been long formed, and leaves nothing to be 
desired. It is composed of the ablest men of 
the East and the West; chosen men, who, 
from ancient times have known the weapon 
in question, and the details of the warfare, 
not only in theory but in practice. Behold 
the tribunal; let us hear its judgment. 

Does that judge believe in the power of 



In the Nineteenth Century. 201 



the Sign of the Cross, and the fitness of that 
divine weapon to combat with the demons, 
who expresses his decision in the following 
terms: "Never leave your house without 
making- the Sign of the Cross. It will be to 
you a staff, a weapon, an impregnable fortress. 
Neither man nor demon will dare to attack 
you, seeing you covered with such powerful 
armor. Let this sign teach you yourself that 
you are a soldier, ready to combat against the 
demons, and ready to fight for the crown of 
justice. Are you ignorant of what the Cross 
has done? It has vanquished death, destroyed 
sin, emptied hell, dethroned Satan, and re- 
suscitated the universe; would you then doubt 
its power ?"* 

Does that second judge believe in it, who 
says: "The Sign of the Cross is the invincible 
armor of the Christian, Soldier of Christ, let 
this armor never leave you, either day or 
night, at any moment, or in any place. With- 
out it, undertake nothing. Whether you be 
asleep or awake, watching or working, eating 
or drinking, sailing on sea or crossing rivers, 
have this breast-plate ever on you. Adorn 
and protect each of your members with this 
victorious sign, and nothing can injure you. 



* S. Cbrys, Homil. xxii. ad popul. Antioch. 



202 



The Sig7i of the Cross 



There is no buckler so powerful against the 
darts of the enemy. At the sight of this sign, 
the infernal powers, affrighted and trembling, 
take to flight,"* 

Does that third judge believe in it, who 
addresses to himself and to all Christians the 
following recommendation: "Let us make 
the Sign of the Cross boldly and courageously. 
When the demons see it, .they are reminded 
of the Crucified; they take to flight; they hide 
themselves and leave us 

And the fourth, who says: "Let us bear on 
our foreheads the immortal standard. The 
sight of it makes the demons tremble. They 
who fear not the gilded capitols, tremble at 
the sight of the Cross. "t 

Thus has the East decided by the voice of 
her greatest men, St. Chrysostom, St. Eph- 
rem, St. Cyril of Jerusalem, and Origen, to 
which it would be easy to add other names 
equally respectable. 

Let us hearken to the West. 

St. Augustin says to the catechumens: "It 
is with the symbol and the Sign of the Cross 



* S. Eph., De Panoplia et de Poenitent. apud Gretzer. pp. 
530, 581, 642. 

t S. Cyril. Catecb. xiii. 

% Orig. Hontil. vii. in divers Evang, locis. 



In the Nineteenth Century. 203 



that we must march to meet the enemy. 
Clothed with this armor, the Christian shall 
easily triumph over his proud and ancient 
tyrant. The Cross is sufficient to cause all 
the machinations of the spirits of darkness to 
vanish."* 

His illustrious contemporary, St. Jerome, 
says: "The Sign of the Cross is a buckler 
which shields us from the burning arrows of 
the demon. "\ 

And elsewhere* "Frequently make the 
Sign of the Cross on your forehead, that you 
may not yield to the destroyer of Egypt."! 

And Lactantius says: "Whoever wishes to 
know the power of the Sign of the Cross, has 
only to consider how formidable it is to the 
demons. When adjured in the name of 
Jesus Christ, it forces them to leave the 
bodies of the possessed. What is there in this 
to wonder at ? When the Son of God was 
on earth, with one word He put the demons 
to flight, and restored peace and health to 
their unfortunate victims. To-day His disci- 
ples expel those same unclean spirits in the 
name of their Master, and by the sign of His 
passion. "§ 



* Lib. de Symb. c. i. 

X Epist. 97 ad Demetriad. 



f Ep. xviii. ad Eustoch. 
\ Lib. iv. c. 27. 



204 The Sign of the Cross 



The East and the West have spoken. The 
most able judges proclaim the Sign of the 
Cross to be an excellent weapon, a special 
weapon against the demons. An incalculable 
number of facts form the basis of their judg- 
ment. In the first ages of the Church they 
were repeated every day in presence of 
Christians and pagans, in all places of the 
universe. 

They were so conclusive that St. Athana- 
sius, an eye-witness, said without fear of any 
contradiction : " By the Sign of the Cross 
all the arts of magic are rendered powerless, 
all enchantments inefficacious; and all idols 
deserted. By it the passions of the sensual 
voluptuaries are moderated, checked and 
appeased; and the soul grovelling on the 
earth, is raised towards heaven. 

" Formerly the demons deceived men by 
assuming* divers forms, and standing near a 
fountain or a river; in the woods or upon 
rocks, and by their enchantments and delu- 
sions surprised unwary mortals. But since 
the advent of the Divine W ord, their artifices 
are powerless; the Sign of the Cross is able 
to unmask all their impostures. 

"Does any one wish to prove it? He 
needs only to come into the midst of the 



In the Nineteenth Century. 



2 °5 



enchantments of the demons, the impostures 
of the oracles, and the miracles of magic; 
then let him make the Siom of the Cross and 
invoke the name of the Lord, and he shall 
see how, through fear of the sacred sign, the 
demons will fly, the oracles become dumb, 
the charms and incantations be struck power- 
less."* 

I will relate a few of those experiences. 
Lactantius, the preceptor of Constantine's 
son, who knew better than any one the secrets 
of the imperial court, relates the following. 

H While in the East, the Emperor Maxi- 
mian, a very curious searcher into the future, 
one day immolated some victims, and sought 
to read in their entrails the secrets of the 
future. Some of his guards who were Chris- 
tians, made on their foreheads the immortal 
sign: immortale signum. At the same moment 
the demons fled away, and the sacrifice be- 
came dumb/'f 

If, at the sight of the Sign of the Cross, the 
demon was obliged to fly away from his 
temples, how could he remain in other places? 
Let us hear one of the most grave doctors of 
the East, St. Gregory of Xyssa. 

* Lib. de Inoarnat, Verb. 

t Laetant., De mortib persecute c. x, 

18 



2o6 The Sign of the Cross 



In the life of St. Gregory Thaumaturgus, 
the Moses of Armenia, the illustrious histo- 
rian relates what follows. 

" Troades, his deacon, arrived one evening 
at Neocaesarea. Being fatigued with his 
journey, he wished to take a bath, in order to 
refresh himself, and for this purpose went to 
the public baths. That place was haunted by 
a murderous demon, who killed all those who 
dared to enter there after nightfall, therefore 
the doors were closed at sunset. The deacon 
presented himself and requested to have 
them opened. The keeper of the bath told 
him all that had happened. 'You may be- 
lieve me,' said he, ' whoever dares to enter 
here at this hour, never comes forth alive. 
At night the demon is master of the place, 
and many unfortunate persons have paid for 
their temerity by cries of agony and by 
death/ Troades was not moved by what he 
heard, but insisted on the doors being opened. 
Overcome by his solicitations, the keeper of 
the bath bethought himself of an expedient 
by which he might save his own life and at 
the same time satisfy the desire of the peti- 
tioner. He gave him the keys, not daring 
to open the door himself, and ran away. 
The deacon entered alone. Arrived in the 



In the Nineteenth Century, 207 



first room, he began to remove his clothes. 
All at once, and on every side, objects of 
horror and dread, spectres of various forms, 
half flame, half smoke, figures of men and 
beasts, presented themselves to his sight, 
howled in his ears, infected him with their 
loathsome breath, and surrounded him as with 
a circle that could not be broken. Without 
the least emotion, the deacon made the Sign 
of the Cross, invoked the name of the Lord, 
and left the first room in safety. Having 
entered the bath-room, he found himself in 
the midst of a more horrible spectacle. The 
demon appeared to him under a form calcu- 
lated to cause the death of any one by terror. 
The earth shook, the walls w r ere rent asunder, 
the floor opened and the deacon saw beneath 
him a furnace, from which the sparks flew 
into his face. He had recourse to his former 
weapon, the Sign of the Cross, and the in- 
vocation of the name of the Lord, and all 
disappeared. After having taken his bath he 
hastened to depart, but the demon barred his 
passage and kept the doors closed. But by 
the Sign of the Cross, Satan's opposition was 
again overcome, and the door flew open of 
itself. As the courageous deacon w T ent forth, 
the demon said to him in a human voice, 



2o8 The Sign of the Cross 



Humana vox: "Do not imagine it owing to 
your virtue that you have escaped death. 
You owe it to Him whose name you invoked.'' 
Having thus been saved, Troades became a 
subject of admiration to the keeper of the 
bath, and to ail those who knew of the oc- 
currence."* 

The fact you have just read, dear friend, is 
not an isolated one. It is but a part of a vast 
whole of similar facts, attested by thousands 
of witnesses in past ages, which are repro- 
duced in our days amongst idolaters. Rome 
often witnessed them. Allow Lactantius to 
speak. 

"When the pagans," says he, " sacrifice to 
their gods, if any of the assistants marks his 
forehead with the Sign of the Cross, the 
sacrifice cannot take place, and the oracle 
consulted gives no answer. Such has often 
been the cause why wicked emperors have 
persecuted the Christians. Some of us ac- 
companying them to the sacrifices, have made 
the Sign of the Cross ; then the demons, 
being put to flight, could not mark in the 
entrails of the victims the signs indicative of 
the future. When the aruspices perceived 
this, they failed not, being incited thereto by 



* Vit. B. Greg. Inter oper, Nyssa. 



In the Nineteenth Century. 209 

the demons to whom they sacrificed, to com- 
plain of the presence of the profane. The 
princes became furious, and persecuted Chris- 
tianity to the extreme, that it might defile 
itself with sacrileges of which they so cruelly 
bore the pain."* 

My next shall contain some other facts. 

* Lact, lib. iv. c. 27. 



18* 



SIXTEENTH LETTER. 



The Sign of the Cposs breaks idols, and expels the demons 

FROM THEM : EXAMPLES — It EXPELS THEM OUT OF THE POSSESSED: 
EXAMPLES — PiECENT ANECDOTE — OTHER PEOOFS : EXORCISMS 
— It pendees vain the direct ATTACKS OF THE DEMONS: 
examples — Their indirect attacks : proofs — All creatures 
subject to the demons, serve as their instruments to harm 
us — The Sign of the Cross delivers them, and prevents 
their being injurious to our body or soul — profound phi- 
losophy of the early christians — the use they made of 
the Sign of the Cross — Tableau by St. Chrysostom. 

December Wth. 

The power of the Sign ot" the Cross, my 
dear Frederic, must be as extended as that of 
Satan. The infernal usurper has seized upon 
all parts of creation ; the legitimate proprietor 
has, then, to eject him, and to give to those 
who have the use of them the means by 
which to eject him themselves. Therefore 
not only does the Sign of the Cross prevent 
the demons from speaking*, and oblige them 
to leave the places they inhabit, but it also 
expels them from the bodies of the possessed. 
I shall give a few facts from among thousands 
in support of these self-evident truths, 
210 



The Sign of the Cross. 



21 X 



The following happened under the Empe- 
ror Antoninus. That C the philosopher, 
cruelly persecuted the faithful. Rome was 
filled with idols. To their feet they dragged 
our ancestors, to compel them to offer in- 
cense. Glvceria, one of our heroic sisters, was 
brought before the governor of the imperial 
city. "Take this torch/ 1 said he, "and sacri- 
fice to Jupiter." " I will never do so/' an- 
swered Glyceria. "I sacrifice to the eternal 
God ; for that I need no torch, which pro- 
duces smoke. Cause it to be extinguished, 
that mv sacrifice may be the more agreeable 
to Him." The governor spoke, and the 
torches were extinguished. Then the chaste 
and noble virgin raised her eyes towards 
heaven, and stretching forth her hands to- 
wards the people, said: "Do you see the 
brilliant torch engraven on my forehead?" 
At these words she made the Sign of the 
Cross and prayed; "O Almighty God, whom 
thy servants glorify by the Cross of Jesus 
Christ, break this demon formed bv the hand 
of man." At the same moment a clap of 
thunder resounded in their ears, and the 
marble Jupiter was shattered into frag- 
ments.* 



* Baron, t. ii. 



2 J 2 The Sign of the Cross 



We read the same of St. Procopius, a 
martyr under Diocletian. Being: brought 
before the idols, the glorious champion stood 
facings the East, and made the Sien of the 
Cross oyer his body. Then raising his eyes 

* <_> J 

and hands to heayen, he said, "O Lord Jesus 
Christ!" making at the same time the Sign 
of the Cross against the statues, and accom- 
panying it with the words: " Impure images, 
I say to you, fear the name of my God: melt 
now into water, and spread oyer this temple;' 
His words were immediately accomplished.* 

Obliged by the Sign of the Cross to quit 
the places they inhabit, the demons are equally 
constrained, by virtue of the same sign, to 
leave the bodies of the unfortunates of whom 
they have taken possession. Here again we' 
find numerous facts attested by unexception- 
able witnesses. 

First, there is St. Gregory, one of the 
greatest popes that have governed the Catho- 
lic Church. He speaks of a fact of recent 
occurrence in his own country. "In the 
time of the Goths/' savs he, "Kino- Totila 
came to NarnLf The town had for its 
bishop the venerable Cassius, who thought 
he had better go to meet the prince. The 



* Sur. 8. Jul. 



f A small town not far from Rome. 



In the Nineteenth Century. 



213 



habit of weeping had inflamed the face of the 
holy bishop, but Totila, judging it to be the 
effect of wine-drinking, showed a profound 
contempt for the man of God. But the 
Almighty washed to show how great was he 
of whom so little account was made. In the 
plain of Narni, and in sight of the entire 
army, the demon took possession of Totila's 
squire, and cruelly tormented him. In pre- 
sence of the king, they brought him to the 
venerable Cassius. The saint. began to pray, 
made the Sign of the Cross, and the demon 
w r as expelled. From that moment Totila's 
contempt was changed into respect, he having 
learned the true character of him whose 
appearance had excited his contempt."* 

Listen to another fact which took place in 
your own country. In Prussia, in a place 
called Velsenberg, there lived a rich and pow- 
erful man called Ethelbert. He was pos- 
sessed by a demon, and had to be bound with 
iron chains. As he was a prey to most cruel 
pains, he received many visits. One day, 
in presence of the priests of the idols and 
many pagans, the demon cried out: "If 
Swibert, the servant of the living God, does 
not come, I will never depart hence." 

* Dialog., lib. iii., c. 6, 



214 The Sign of the Cross 



You are not ignorant that St. Swibert was 
one of the apostles of Friesland and part of 
Germany. As the demon unceasingly re- 
peated the same words, the idolaters went 
away much puzzled, not knowing what to 
think of all that they had seen and heard. 
After much hesitation, his friends decided to 
seek the saint. Having found him, they earn- 
estly entreated him to visit the demoniac. 
Swibert consented. Scarcely had he set out, 
when the possessed man began to foam at 
the mouth, to gnash his teeth, and to scream 
more horribly than ever. As the saint drew 
near his dwelling, he suddenly became calm 
and tranquil, and lay on his bed as if in a 
peaceful sleep. 

The saint, having looked at him, bade his 
companions to pray. He himself conjured 
the Lord, that for the glory of His name, and 
the conversion of the unbelievers, He would 
expel the demon from the body of the unfor- 
tunate man. When his prayer was ended, 
he arose and made the Sign of the Cross 
over the demoniac, saying : " In the name 
of our Lord Jesus Christ, I command thee, 
impure spirit, to depart out of this creature 
of God, that he may know Him who is truly 
His Creator." At that instant the evil spirit 



In the Nineteenth Century. 215 



went out, leaving behind him a horrid stench * 
The sick man, overwhelmed with joy, fell 
at the saint's feet, and with tears begged for 
baptism, which was granted him. 

Behold, dear Frederic, what was happen- 
ing" in Prussia when she was drawn out of 
barbarism. There, as in other places, it was 
by miracles that the Gospel proved its mission, 
and the Sign of the Cross was its ordinary 
instrument. What is now the religion of 
the Prussians? Is it that of the first apostles? 
That which teaches to make the Sign of the 
Cross? 

The Protestants unceasingly cry out that 
an honest man ought not to change his reli- 
gion. They love, say they, men who hold to 
the religion of their fathers ; as for me, I love 
those better who hold to that of their grand- 
fathers. You know, no doubt, the anecdote 
related of the celebrated Count de Stolberg. 
This amiable and learned man, one of the 
glories of your Germany, had abjured Pro- 
testantism. The king of Prussia was highly 
displeased, and refused to see him. How- 
ever, after the lapse of some years, the king 
being desirous of his advice, sent for the 
count. As soon as they met, William said 



* Marceilin., in Yit. S. Suibert. c. xx. 



2l6 



The Sign of the Cross 



to him: "Sir Count, I cannot conceal that 1 
have but little esteem for a man who changes 
his religion.'V The Count bowing, replied: 
"This is the very reason, Sire, why I so pro- 
foundly despise Luther." 

That the Sign of the Cross is the univer- 
sal and all-powerful weapon with which to 
expel the demons from the bodies of the pos- 
sessed, is proved by the exorcisms of the 
Church. If you cast a glance over the Roman 
Ritual, you will find the proof of what I ad- 
vance. Now the exorcisms, with the breath- 
ings and the Sign of the Cross, date back to 
the very cradle of Christianity. Mention is 
made of it by all the Fathers who have 
spoken of Baptism, and nearly every one 
both in the East and the West has spoken 
of it. 

In the name of all, let us hear St. Gregory 
the Great. 

"When the catechumens present them- 
selves to be exorcised, the priest must first 
breathe on the face, in order that the demon 
being ejected, entrance may be given to 
jesus Christ, our God. Then he makes the 
Sign of the Cross on the forehead, saying: T 
place on thy forehead the Sign of the Cross 
of our Lord Jesus Christ;' and on the breast, 



In the Nineteenth Century. 217 



saying: 'I place on thy breast the sign of our 
Lord Jesus Christ.' "* 

The exorcisms, as above described, have 
descended to us through all ages. At this 
very hour they are still in use in every part 
of the globe where there is a Catholic priest 
on mission, and a human being to be with- 
drawn from the dominion of Satan. But the 
demons are not only in the temples and 
statues wherein they are worshipped, or in 
the bodies of the unfortunates whom they 
torment; they are everywhere. The air is 
full of them. They are indefatigable enemies, 
who continually attack us, either by them- 
selves, or through the intermediation of 
creatures. Their attacks, whether direct or 
indirect, open or masked, fail before the Sign 
of the Cross. "The Lord," says Arnobius, 
"has prepared our fingers for the combat, so 
that when we shall be attacked by our ene- 
mies, visible or invisible, we may use our fin- 
gers to form on our foreheads the triumphant 
Sign of the Cross."f 

Among thousands of other heroines, as 
young and exposed as she, Justina of Nico- 
media knew how to employ this victorious 
weapon. Born of noble parents, endowed 

* S. Greg. Sacrament 
19 



t Arnob. in ps. 143. 



218 



The Sign of the Cross 



with riches and rare beauty, the young Chris- 
tian virgin, notwithstanding her modesty and 
her flight from the world, inspired a young 
pagan named Agladius with a violent passion. 
To attain his desires, he employed offers, 
promises and prayers, but finding all useless, 
had recourse to Cyprian, a famous magician 
in the city. He soon experienced the same 
passion, and employed all the resources of his 
art to win her for himself. He had no diffi- 
culty in obtaining the aid of hell. The most 
violent demons were sent to tempt the young 
saint. Finding herself so strongly attacked, 
Justina redoubled her prayers, watchings and 
mortifications. In the height of the combat 
she made the Sign of the Cross, and the 
demons took to flight. Xot onlv did she 
preserve her virtue, but she had also the 
glory of converting Cyprian, who became an 
illustrious martyr, and one of the most noble 
conquests of the liberating sign.* 

And St. Anthony, the great champion of 
the desert, whose life was spent in warfare 
with the demons, in their paroxysms of rage 
and under the most frightful forms, he also 
knew how to handle this victorious weapon. 
Let a historian worthy of such a man, speak. 



-Life, Sept. 26th. 



In the Nineteenth Century. 219 



" Sometimes," says St. Athanasius, "a sud- 
den noise was heard. Anthony's dwelling 
shook violently, and through the half-opened 
walls poured in a crowd of demons, who 
assumed the forms of beasts and serpents. 
The cell was filled with lions, bulls, wolves, 
asps, dragons, scorpions, bears and leopards, 
each of which uttered its natural cry. The 
lion roared, ready to devour him; the bull 
threatened with his bellowing and his horns; 
the serpent hissed; the wolf showed his 
teeth; the leopard, by his variegated colors, 
represented the cunning of the infernal ser- 
pent: all were frightful to behold, horrible 
to hear. 

''Anthony, beaten and wounded, suffered 
acute pain in his body, but his soul remained 
imperturbable. Though his wounds drew from 
him moans of pain, nevertheless he, ever the 
same, cried out derisively to his enemies: Tf 
you had any strength, one of you alone could 
vanquish me, but because the power of my 
God enfeebles you, you come in crowds to 
frighten me.' He added: Tf you have any 
power, if my God has delivered me to you, 
here I am, devour me. If you can do nothing 
against me, why so many useless efforts? 
The Sign of the Cross, and confidence in God 



220 



The Sign of the Cross 



are for us an impregnable fortress/ Then 
they gnashed their teeth, and uttered a thou- 
sand threats against the saint, seeing that 
their attacks only served to bring derision 
on themselves."* 

The same fearless language which faith 
caused Anthony to use towards the demons, 
was also addressed by him to the pagan phi- 
losophers. "What is the use of disputa- 
tions ?" said the patriarch of the desert to 
those perpetual seekers after truth. "We pro- 
nounce the name of the Crucified, and all the 
demons that you adore as gods, howl and 
roar. At the first Sign of the Cross, they fly 
from the possessed. Behold! where are the 
lying oracles ? Where the enchantments of 
the Egyptians? Of what use are magic 
words? All have been destroyed since that 
day when the name of Jesus Crucified re- 
sounded through the world." Then having 
called to him some who were possessed, he 
continued to say to his interlocutors: "Come 
on with your syllogisms, or any other charm 
that you please. Expel out of these misera- 
ble victims those whom you call your o-ods. 
If you cannot, then confess yourselves van- 
quished. Have recourse to the Sign of the 



* De vit. S. Anton, 



In the Nineteenth Cehtury. 221 



Cross, and the humility of your faith shall be 
followed by a miracle of power." At these 
words he invoked the name of Jesus, made 
the Sign of the Cross over the foreheads of 
the possessed, and the demons fled, in pre- 
sence of the confounded' philosophers.* 

Similar facts are almost as numerous as the 
pages of history. You know them, and I will 
pass on. 

To attacks, direct and palpable, the demons 
add those that are masked and indirect. Not 
less dangerous than the first, they are much 
more frequent. They are of two kinds; one, 
interior; the other, exterior. The first are 
what we commonly call temptations. Now I 
have said that the Sign of the Cross is the 
victorious arm which disperses them, and in 
saving- it, I am only the echo of universal 
tradition and daily experience. 

14 When you make the Sign of the Cross," 
savs St. Chrysostom, " remember what the 
cross signifies, and you shall appease anger 
and all the inordinate motions of the soul."-}" 

Origen adds: "Such is the power of the 
Sign of the Cross, that if you place it before 
your eyes, if you keep it faithfully in your 
heart, neither concupiscence, nor voluptuous- 



* De vit. S. Anton. 

19* 



f De ador. pret. cruc, n. 3. 



222 



The Sign of the Cross 



ness, nor fury can resist it; at its appearance 
the whole army of flesh and sin take flight."* 

The second attacks are exterior. Not a 
creature escapes the malignant influence of 
Satan, and he makes them all the instruments 
of his implacable hatred against man. This 
is, as I have already demonstrated, an article 
of belief among mankind. What weapon has 
God given (for He has given one) to free 
them, and by freeing them, to preserve our 
souls and bodies from the fatal injuries of him 
who is justly styled the great Homicide, Homi- 
cida ab initio? All Catholic generations rise 
from their tombs to cry out to me : "It is the 
Sign of the Cross. All those now living in 
the five divisions of the globe, join their voice 
to that of their ancestors and repeat : It is 
the Sign of the Cross." 

Impenetrable buckler, impregnable tower, 
special defence against the demons, universal 
weapon, equally powerful against the visible 
and the invisible enemy, weapon easy for the 
weak, gratuitous for the poor: — such is, as we 
have seen, the definition which both the living 
and the dead give us of the adorable sign. 
Hence two great truths; the subjection of all 
creatures to the demons, and the power of the 



* Qri^en, Comm. i i> epist. ad Iiom. lib, yi. ti. 6= 



In the Nineteenth Century. 223 



Sign of the Cross to free them, and prevent 
them from injuring us. From these two 
truths, so deeply felt; these truths, ever 
ancient, yet ever new, arise two facts incon- 
testably logical. The first, the constant use 
of exorcisms in the Catholic Church ; the 
second, the incessant use of the Sign of the 
Cross among the primitive Christians. 

What is the meaning of exorcism? The 
faith of the Church applied to the servitude 
of creatures to the demon. What does exor- 
cism operate? The deliverance of creatures. 
Then as there is not a creature that the 
Catholic Church does not exorcise, the result 
is, that in her eyes the universe in all its 
parts is a great captive, possessed by the 
demon, an immense engine of war directed 
against us. What, in its turn, was the Sign 
of the Cross among the early Christians ? A 
continual exorcism. If, with the Church, and 
mankind, we admit that all creatures are 
subject to the demon, that they serve as 
vehicles for his malignant influence; that at 
every hour, every instant, every action, man 
comes in contact with them ; what more 
reasonable than the constant use of an arm, 
ever and always necessary? 

Thus, then, the continual use of the Sign 



224 The Sign of the Cross 



of the Cross among our ancestors announ- 
ces a profound philosophy. They knew dual- 
ism, the great law of the moral world, in all its 
formidable extent. They understood that 
the attack being universal and incessant, it 
was necessary, in order to preserve an equili- 
brium, that the defence also should be uni- 
versal and incessant. Again, what more 
reasonable? Thev then made the Sign of 
the Cross on each of their senses. Do you 
wish to know why? The senses are the 
doors of the soul; they serve as intermedia 
between it and creatures. Once that they 
are marked with the Sign of the Cross, crea- 
tures can no longer enter into communication 
with the soul, unless by passing through a 
sanctified medium, in which they lose their 
fatal influences. 

But this was not enough for our forefathers. 
They made the Sign of the Cross on every- 
thing that they used, and even, as far as in 
their power, on every part of creation. 
Houses, furniture, doors, fountains, bounda- 
ries of fields, pillars of edifices, ships, bridges, 
medals, flags, helmets, shields, rings; all. were 
marked with the adorable sign. Prevented 
by their occupations, or by distance of place, 
from repeating it everywhere and always, 



In the Nineteenth Century, 225 



they rendered it permanent, as it were, by 
engraving, painting, or sculpturing it on the 
creatures in the midst of which they passed 
their existence. A lightning rod, a trophy of 
victory; such then w<as the august sign. A 
divine lightning-rod, much more powerful to 
repulse the princes of the air with their incal- 
culable malice, than the metallic rods placed 
on our houses are to discharge the lightning 
clouds. A trophy of victory, attesting the 
triumph of the Incarnate Word over the king 
of this w r orld, as the columns raised by the 
vanquisher on the field of battle bear witness 
to the defeat of the enemy. 

From the heights of Constantinople let us, 
with St. Chrysostom, contemplate the world 
covered with those divine lightning-rods, those 
trophies of victory. 

"More precious than the universe, ,, says 
the eloquent patriarch, "the Cross glitters on 
the diadems of emperors. Everywhere it is 
present to my view. I find it among princes 
and subjects, men and women, virgins and 
married people, slaves and freemen. All 
continually trace it on the noblest part of the 
body, the forehead, wdiere it shines like a 
column of glory. At the sacred table, it is 
there; in the ordination of priests, it is there; 



226 The Sign of the Cross 



in the mystical Supper of the Saviour, it is 
there. It is drawn on every point of the 
horizon, on the tops of houses, over public 
places, in inhabited parts and in deserts, on 
roads, on mountains, in woods, on hills, on the 
sea, on the masts of ships, on islands, on win- 
dows, over doors, on the necks of Christians, 
on beds, garments, books, arms, and banquet- 
couches, in feasts, on gold and silver vessels, 
on precious stones, on the pictures of the 
apartments. 

" It is made over sick animals, over those 
possessed by the demon, in war, in peace, by 
day, by night, in pleasant reunions, and in 
penitential assemblies. It is who shall seek 
first the protection of this admirable sign. 

"What is there surprising in this? The 
Sign of the Cross is the type of our deliver- 
ance, the monument of the liberation of 
mankind, the souvenir of the forbearance of 
our Lord. When you make it, remember 
what has been given for your ransom, and 
you will be the slave of no one. Make it then 
not only with your fingers, but with your 
faith. If you thus engrave it on your fore- 
head, no impure spirit shall dare to stand 
before you. He sees the cutlass with which 
he has been wounded, the sword from which 



In the Nineteenth Century. 227 



he has received his death-blow. If at the 
sight of patibulary places we are seized with 
horror, think what Satan and his angels must 
suffer at the sight of that weapon which 
was used by the Eternal Word to weaken 
their power, and strike off the head of the 
dragon."* 

To-morrow, the reflections produced by 
this ravishing spectacle, so eloquently des- 
cribed. 



* Quod Christus sit Deus, app. t. i. p. 697, edit. Paris 
altera: id in Matth. homil. 54. app. t. vii. p. 620, et in c. iii. 
ad Phillip. 



SEVENTEENTH LETTER. 



Summary— Nature of the Sign of the Cross — How it is 
valued at the present day — what the contempt and 
forget fulness of the slgn of the cfioss announce — spec- 
tacle of the present world — satan returns — to remain 
faithful to the slgn of the cross — principally before 
and after meals — reason, honor, and liberty commands 
it — is reason for or against those who maze the slgn of 
the Cross oyer food — Examples and argument?. 

December V2th. 

A universal weapon, an invincible weapon 
for man, lightning-conductor for creatures, 
souvenir of man's deliverance, and trophy of 
victory for the Word Redeemer: — such, my 
dear Frederic, was the Sign of the Cross in 
the eyes of the first Christians. Thence came 
the use they made of it, the sentiments with 
which it inspired them, and the magnificent 
spectacle we have just witnessed. Have we 
retained the faith of our forefathers? What 
is the Sign of the Cross to the Christians of 
the nineteenth century? What use do they 
make of it, either for themselves or for crea- 
tures? Are the sentiments of faith, confi- 
228 



The Sign of the Cross. 229 



dence, respect, gratitude and love which it 
awakens in them, lively, or even real? And 
among those who do make it, do not the 
greater part make it without knowing what 
they are doing, without attaching to it either 
any great value, or any considerable import- 
ance? How many are there who no longer 
make it? How many w r ho are ashamed to 
do so? How many, even, who do not like to 
see it made? They have removed it from 
the tops of their houses, banished it out of 
their apartments, and effaced it from their 
furniture. They have caused it to disappear 
from the public places and walks of their 
cities; from the gardens and parks of their 
villas ; from the roads of their villages ; from 
the greater part of the places in which our 
forefathers erected it. They have broken 
the crosses! 

What means this? What do such symp- 
toms announce? Do you wish to know? 
Reascend to that principle which throws light 
on all history. Two contrary spirits dispute 
between them the empire of the world; the 
spirit of good, and the spirit of evil. All that 
is done, is by divine inspiration or by satanical 
inspiration. The institution of the Sign of 

the Cross, the incessant use of the Sign of 

20 



230 The Sign of the Cross 



the Cross, the confidence in the Sign of the 
Cross, the omnipotent virtue attributed to the 
Sign of the Cross — are they the result of a 
divine or a satanic inspiration? It must be 
either one or the other. If of satanic inspi- 
ration, then the elite of humanity, who alone 
make the Sign of the Cross, have for more 
than eighteen centuries been struck with 
incurable blindness, while all those who do 
not belong to the elite of humanity have been 
in full possession of the light; this would be 
to say that the near-sighted, those blind of 
an eye or totally blind, see more clearly than 
those who have two good eyes. Do you 
think there is a pride so desperate as to 
advance such a paradox, an incredulity so 
strong as to sustain it? But if it is by divine 
inspiration that the Sign of the Cross is prac- 
tised, repeated, cherished and regarded as 
the invincible, universal, permanent, and 
necessary weapon of mankind, what shall we 
think of a world that no longer understands 
the Sign of the Cross, that no longer makes 
it, that despises it, is ashamed of it, no longer 
salutes it, wishes it no longer in its sight, or 
under the face of its sun? 

Unless human nature is radically changed, 
and dualism but a chimera; unless Satan has 



In the Nineteenth Century. 231 



withdrawn from the combat; unless creatures 
have ceased to be the medium of his fatal 
influence, the Christian of to-day, the despiser 
of the Sign of the Cross, is but an unworthy 
scion of a noble race. The nineteenth cen- 
tury is a foolish rationalist, who understands 
neither the combat, nor the conditions of the 
combat ; a presumptuous soldier, who, after 
having broken his weapon and thrown aside 
his armor, casts himself blindly, with his arms 
bound and his breast bared, into the midst 
of swords and lances ; modern society is a 
dismantled city, surrounded by innumerable 
enemies, impatient to reduce it to ruins, and 
put the garrison to the sword. 

To reduce it to ruins ? But is it not 
already a ruin ? A ruin of belief, ruin of 
morals, ruin of authority, ruin of tradition, 
ruin of the fear of God and of conscience, 
ruin of virtue, probity, mortification, obedi- 
ence, the spirit of sacrifice, resignation, and 
hope — on all sides, ruin either commenced or 
consummated. 

In public and in private life, in city and in 
country, in him who governs, and those who 
are governed, in the order of ideas and the 
dominion of facts, how many men or things 
remain truly and sincerely Catholic? 



232 The Sign of the Cross 



In this, dear Frederic, there is nothing that 
ought to astonish us. Take away the Sign 
of the Cross, and all shall be explained. The 
less of the Si^n of the Cross in the world, 
the more of Satan. The Sign of the Cross 
is the lightning-rod of the world; remove it, 
and the thunderbolt falls which shall burn 
and crush you. 

The Sign of the Cross is a trophy which 
attests the dominion of the victor. To break 
it, is to give joy to the ancient enemy of man- 
kind, and prepare the way for his return. 
Listen to what was written seventeen cen- 
turies ago by one of those men who best 
understood the mysterious power of the Sign 
of the Cross. I mean that martyr, illustrious 
among all others, St. Ignatius, of Antioch. 
Contemplate that white-haired bishop, loaded 
with chains, travelling four hundred leagues 
to be devoured by lions under the eyes of 
the great city of Rome. See him, as calm 
as if standing at the altar, as joyful as if going 
to a feast; sowing, on his way, instruction and 
encouragement to the churches of Asia, which 
hasten to meet him in his passage. In his 
admirable letter to the Christians of Philippi, 
he says: "The prince of this world rejoices 
when he sees any one abandon the Cross. 



/;/ the Nineteenth Century. 233 



He knows it is the Cross that brings death to 
him, for it is the weapon destructive to his 
power. The sight of it horrifies him, the 
name frightens him. Before it was made, he 
neglected no means of having it constructed, 
and to this work he incited the children of 
unbelief, Judas, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, 
the old, the young, and the priests. But 
when he saw it on the point of being com- 
pleted, he was troubled. He excited remorse 
in the soul of the traitor, presented him with 
the rope, and tempted him to hang himself. 
He troubled Pilate's wife by a painful dream, 
and made every effort to prevent the con- 
struction of the Cross. Not because he had 
remorse; if he had felt it, he w T ould not have 
been wholly bad ; but he had a presentiment 
of his defeat. He was not deceived. The 
Cross is the principle of his condemnation, 
the principle of his death, the principle of 
his ruin." 

Thence come two teachings ; horror and 
fear of the demon at the sight of the Cross 
and the Sign of the Cross ; and his joy at the 
absence of both one and the other. If he sees 
a soul or a country without the Sign of the 
Cross, he enters it fearlessly, and remains 

there at his ease. As inevitably as darkness 

: 0* * . 



234 



The Sign of the Cross 



succeeds lijjht after the setting- of the sun, so 
inevitably does he there reestablish his em- 
pire. The present world is a sensible proof 
of it. 

I do not speak of that deluge of denials, 
impieties, and unheard-of blasphemies with 
which it is inundated. What are (for these 
who are not satisfied with words) those mil- 
lions of table-turnings, those spirit-rappings 
or familiar spirits, those apparitions, incan- 
tations, oracles, medical consultations, and 
pretended conversations with the dead, -which 
have so suddenly invaded the old and new 
world ? :!: 

Are these things new? No; mankind has 



* At the time in which we are writing there is an unpar- 
alleled recrudescence of occult practices. In Paris, Spiritu- 
alism has formed numerous associations, which have their 
regular meetings. Besides many books, they have three 
special papers to serve as their periodical organs. Metz and. 
Bordeaux, you may be sure, contain many thousand Spiritu- 
alists. In Lyons there are at least fifteen thousand, with a 
journal, in which they pretend that the religion of Spirit- 
rapping is to be the religion of the future. What does all 
this mean? Simply, that after eighteen centuries of Chris- 
tianity, there are in France thousands of idolaters, who either 
ignorantly or designedly do what was done two thousand years 
ago at Delphi, at Dodona, at Sinope, and ail the cities of 
pagan antiquity. Things have arrived to such a state that 
many bishops have been obliged to warn the clergy and 
faithful of their dioceses against this usurpation of Satan. 



In the Nineteenth Century. 235 



already seen them, At what epoch? When 
the Sign of the Cross did not protect mankind, 
and Satan was the king, the god of society. 
By reappearing to-day in a degree unknown 
since ancient paganism, what clo they signify, 
if not that the Sign of the Cross ceasing now 
to protect the world, Satan is retaking pos- 
session of it. 

You see, dear friend, how little intelligence 
have those who abandon the Sign of the 
Cross. Let us pity, but not imitate them. 

There is one circumstance in particular, 
in which we must invariably separate our- 
selves from them. With us, as with our 
forefathers, the Sign of the Cross before and 
after meals must be a sacred duty. Reason, 
honor, and liberty demand it ? 

Reason. If you ask your companions why 
they do not make the Sign of the Cross 
before taking food, each will answer: "I do 
not wish to make myself singular bv doing- 
differently from others : I do not wish to be 
remarked and laughed at for observing a 
useless and obsolete practice. They do not 
wish to make themselves singular. For the 
sake of their honor, I will believe that they 
do not understand the import of those words. 
To be singular, is to put one's self in the singu- 



236 The Sign of the Ovss 



lar number, to isolate one's self, and to act 
differently from everybody else. In this sense 
we may very well be singular without being 
ridiculous. One is sometimes obliged to be 
so, under pain of being guilty. A reasonable 
man, who, in a mad-house, performs sensible 
actions; an honest man, who, in a land of 
thieves, respects the property of others, are 
both singular — are they ridiculous? To be 
singular, in the sense in which your compan- 
ions understand it, is to differ ridiculously 
from established usages. It remains to be 
seen, whether by making the Sign of the 
Cross before and after meals, we make our- 
selves singular, and this in a ridiculous man- 
ner. "Without doubt," answer they, ''since 
you act differently from others." 

But there are others and others. There are 
others who make the Sign of the Cross ; and 
others who do not make it. Therefore by 
making it we are no more singular than by 
not making it, we remain perfectly in the plu- 
ral. Are we ridiculous ? To answer this, 
it suffices to see who are the others who make, 
and the others who do not make the Sign of 
the Cross. 

The others who make it, are you and I, 
your respected family and mine; and we are 



In the Nineteenth Century. 237 



not alone. Behind us, around us, beside 
us, are the true, learned and courageous 
Catholics who have lived in the East and 
West during eighteen centuries. Now, as 
we have seen, those Catholics, neither more 
nor less, have formed the elite of mankind. 
We are so far from being ridiculous by 
remaining in such company, that we become 
perfectly so by separating ourselves from 
them. Except for those who are satisfied 
with words, and who would wish to satisfy 
others with the same, this proposition is in- 
disputable. 

Nothing is more fully established than that 
the elite of mankind have always made 
the Sign of the Cross before meals. The 
Fathers w r hom I have quoted, Tertullian, St. 
Cyril, St. Ephrem, and St. John Chrysostom, 
leave us no doubt as to the universality of 
this religious practice among the Christians 
of the primitive Church. To these, I will add 
a few others. 

"When," says St. Athanasius, "we sit 
down to table, and take the bread to break 
it, w r e make the Sign of the Cross over it 
three times, and return thanks. After the 
repast, we renew our thanksgiving by saying 
thrice: 'The good and merciful Lord has 



238 The Sign of the Cross 



given food to those that fear Him. Glory 
be to the Father, etc."'* 

And St. Jerome: " Let no one ever sit at 
table without having prayed, and let him 
never leave it without having given thanks 
to the Creator."-} - 

St. Chrysostom brands as they deserve, 
those who dispense themselves from this 
sacred law of wisdom and gratitude. "We 
must pray before and after meals. Hear 
this, ye swine who nourish yourselves with 
the gifts of God, without raising your eyes to 
the hand that gives them."t 

The blessing of the table by the Sign of 
the Cross was in use not only in families and 
in private life; the soldiers in their camps 
observed it with religious fidelity. On this 
point, St. Gregory Nazianzen relates a fact 
which is still famous. 

Julian the Apostate was rewarding his 
troops by an extraordinary distribution of 
money and provisions. Near the emperor 
was placed a lighted perfume pan, into which 
each soldier cast a few grains of incense. 



* De Virgin it., n. 1 3. 

f Epist. xxii. ad Eustoch.. De Custocl. Virgin it. 
X Homil. 82, in Matth., n. 2. fc. vii., p. 8cS5; id Homil. 49, 
in id. n. 2. p. 5u ( J, edit. novL 



Iii the Nineteenth Century. 239 



The Christian soldiers did like the others, 
never suspecting that by it they rendered 
themselves guilty of an act of idolatry. The 
distribution being over, the soldiers reassem- 
bled for the feast of the prince. At the 
beginning of the banquet the cup was pre- 
sented to a Christian soldier, who, according 
to custom, blessed it by the Sign of the 
Cross. Suddenly a voice was heard, saying: 
" What you are now doing is in contradiction 
to what you have just done." "What have I 
done?" "Have you, then, forgotten the in- 
cense and the perfume pan? Do you not 
know that you have performed an act of 
idolatry, and denied your faith?" At these 
words he and his brave companions-in-arms 
arose from the table, and sighing, groaning 
and tearing their hair, they rushed out, 
declaring aloud that they were Christians, 
accusing the emperor of having deceived 
them, and demanding another trial, that they 
might confess their faith. The Apostate 
ordered them to be arrested, bound, con- 
demned, and led to the place of execution. 
But not wishing to make them martyrs, he 
commuted the sentence of death into that of 
exile to the farthest parts of the empire.* 

* Orat. I. Contr. Julian ; Theodoret, Hist., lib. iii. c. 16. 



240 The Sign of the Cross 



Whenever a priest was among the guests, 
on him was conferred the honor of making 
the Sign of the Cross over the food.* 

The blessing" at table was regarded as so 
holy a practice, that in the ninth century we 
find the Bulgarians converted to the faith, 
asking Pope Nicholas L, if a layman might 
take the place of a priest in performing this 
function. "Without doubt," answered the 
pope, "for it has been given to each one to 
preserve by the Sign of the Cross all that 
belongs to him from the snares of the demon, 
and in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to 
triumph over his attacks. 

Succeeding ages have seen the use of the 
Sign of the Cross before and after meals, 
among the true Catholics of the East and 
West; you know that it still exists. 

We know the others that make the Sign 
of the Cross before meals. Let us see who 
are the others that do not make it, and to 
whom your young companions give the pre- 
ference. . 

Pagans do not make it; Jews do not make 
it; heretics do not make it; atheists do not 
make it; bad Catholics do not make it; igno- 



* See D. Ruin art. Acts of the Martyrdom of S. Theodota. 
\ Rep. ad consult. Bulgar. 



In the Nineteenth Century. 241 



rant Catholics, or those enslaved by human 
respect, do not make it. 

Behold those others who do not make the 
Sign of the Cross, and who laugh at those 
who do: on which side is the ridiculous 
singularity? 

In my next letter I shall follow up this 
objection, 



EIGHTEENTH LETTER. 



HoNOK COMMANDS US TO PRAY BEFORE A»D AFTER MEALS — PRAYER 
OVER FOOD IS AS AUCIENT AS THE WORLD, AS WIDE SPREAD A3 

the human race — Proofs: Benedicite and Grace of every 

PEOPLE — XoT TO SAY THEM, IS TO LIKEN OURSELVES TO BEINGS 
WHICH DO SOT BELONG TO THE HUMAN SPECIES — THE BLESSING 
AT TABLE IS A LAW OF HUMANITY. 

Deeember 13th. 

My Dear Friend: 

Honor is a second motive for remaining" 
faithful to the ancient custom of making the 
sign of the Cross before and after meals. 
Your companions, on the contrary, seem to 
think it honorable to abstain from it. They 
say: "I do not wish to be remarked and 
laughed at." Let us pass to the examination 
of this new pretext. 

First : reason, as we have seen, condemns 
the scorners of the Sign of the Cross, conse- 
quently honor cannot absolve them. Honor 
is never on the side of unreasonableness. 
The)' add that they do not wish to be re- 
marked. Impossible ! whatever they do, they 
are remarked. I do not believe them so 



The Sign of the Cross. 



243 



unfortunate as never to find themselves at 
table with true Catholics. But then they 
make themselves necessarily remarked, and 
very sadly, I assure you. 

It is true, since they say it, that this is 
a matter of indifference to them. Is this 
haughty disdain well-founded? Here recurs 
the question already resolved of others and 
others. As to the mockery of which they are 
afraid, it follows the remark. Only with the 
true Catholic it is turned into pity. Never- 
theless, in contenting myself with exposing 
your companions and their fellows to the 
remarks of Catholics, I have been indulgent. 
You shall see that in abstaining from prayer 
before taking their meals, under pretext 
of not making themselves remarkable, they 
disgrace themselves before all mankind. 
Follow me. He who disgraces himself in the 
sight of every one, is the man who volun- 
tarily places himself in the rank of beasts. 

Until now. there was but one class of be- 
ings that ate without praying. Now we know 
of two- — beasts, and those that resemble 
them. I say that resemble them, for between 
a dog, and a man that eats without praying, 
what is the difference? As for me, I see 
none; neither does the Academy of Science. 



244 The Sign of the Cross 



A biped or a quadruped, sitting or lying, 
murmuring, chattering, or growling, they 
have, one as well as the other, hands or paws, 
eyes, heart and teeth sunk into matter, stu- 
pidly devouring their food without raising 
their heads toward the hand that gives it. 
The man who acts thus, degrades himself 
from the class of human beings; as a beast, 
he sits at table, a beast, he remains there, a 
beast, he leaves it. 

My propositions seem to you too absolute, 
and you exclaim: "Is it really true, as you 
say, that before our time there were known 
only beasts, oxen, asses, mules, swine, oys- 
ters, crocodiles, that ate without praying?'' 
Nothing- more certain. Prayer over food is 

AS ANCIENT AS THE WORLD; AS WIDE-SPREAD AS 
MANKIND. 

From all antiquity we find it among the 
Jews. "When thou hast eaten, and art full," 
says the Mosaic law, " bless the Lord."* 
Behold prayer over food. Faithful to this 
divine ordinance, the Jews, while eating, 
observed the following ceremonies. The 
father of the family, surrounded by his chil- 
dren, said: 

" Blessed be the Lord our God, whose 



* Deut. viii. 10. 



hi the Nineteenth Century. 245 



goodness gives food to ail flesh." Then 
taking a cup of wine in his right hand, he 
blessed it, saying: " Blessed be the Lord our 
God, who has created the fruit of the vine." 
He first tasted it, and then passed it to his 
guests, who also tasted it. Then followed 
the blessing of the bread. Taking it all 
between his hands, the father of the family 
said: " Praised and blessed be the Lord our 
God, who has drawn bread from the earth." 
He then broke the bread, ate a piece, and 
gave some to his guests. It was only then 
that the meal began. When they changed 
the wine or brought in new dishes, a particu- 
lar blessing was made over each, so that 
every kind of nourishment was purified and 
consecrated. The meal being ended, they 
sang a hymn of thanksgiving.* 

All these rites are so much the more ven- 
erable, as they have been consecrated by the 
Son of God Himself. Nothing could more 
clearly prove their importance. What did 
the adorable Teacher of mankind at His last 
Supper, when he ate the Paschal Lamb with 
His disciples? What did He, when, after 
Supper, He sang with them a hymn of 

* Sfcuekius, Antiq. convivial., lib. ii., c. 36. p. 436. ed. in 
folio, 1695. 

21 



246 The Sign of the Cross 



thanksgiving? Et liynino dido exierwit in 
montem Oliveti? He religiously conformed 
Himself to the usages of the holy nation. 
He took the cup, blessed it, and passed it to 
each of the guests.* 

In how many other cases do we see the 
Eternal Model of man, praying before taking 
or giving food! He breaks the bread, divides 
the fishes, and distributes them among- the 
people. Having taken the five loaves and 
two fishes, He raised His eyes to heaven 
and blessed them.f 

All these expressions, according to the 
Fathers, show the blessing of the food. The 
Incarnate Word made it in order to teach us 
never to eat without the blessing and tlianks- 
giving.j Is it then surprising that w T e find 
the blessing at table in use among the first 
Christians? Were not the examples of the 
Man-God the rule of their conduct? Did 
the apostles do anything else but remind 
diem of them? 

"With us," says Polydore Vergil, "the 
custom is to bless the table before meals; 
this is done in imitation of our Lord. The 
Gospel relates that He conformed Himself 



* Luke xxii. 17. f Mark viii. Matth. xiv. 

X Theophylact in Matth. xiv. 



In the Nineteenth Century. 247 



to this custom, when in the desert He blessed 

the five loaves, and at Emmaus, the table of 

the two disciples."* 
j. 

Tertullian says: "Prayer begins and ends 
the meal."f 

I might also quote St. Chrysostom, St. 
Jerome, Origen, both the Latin and Greek 
Fathers; \ but the fact not being disputed, 
wdry should I multiply testimonies? I will 
only add, that we have the Benedicite and 
Grace of the first Christians in the ma 0-- 
nificent verses of Prudentius: Christi prius 
Genitore potens, etc. 

These hymns are another proof of the 
exactitude with which our ancestors con- 
formed themselves to the example of our 
Lord, as He himself conformed to the usage 
of the ancient Jews, and they to the command 
of God Himself. 

We have them also in prose. See these 
monuments of our thrice venerable antiquity. 

Before meals: "O Thou who givest food 
to all that breathe, deign to bless the food Ave 
are about to take. Thou hast said that if we 
should ever drink any poisonous thing, we 



* Apucl Stuckius, p. 428. f Apol. iii. 9. 

% See Duranti, Be ritibus Eccl. Oath. lib. ii. p. 658. Edit, 
1592, 



248 The Sign of the Cross. 



should receive no injury thereby, provided 
we would invoke thy name, for thou art all- 
powerful. Take away, then, from this food 
all that is dangerous and hurtful in it."* 

After meals: " Blessed be thou, O Lord 
our God, who hast nourished us since our 
infancy, and with us all that breathe. Fill 
our hearts with joy, that we may abound in 
all kinds of good works, through Jesus Christ 
our Lord, to whom, with Thee and the Holy 
Ghost, be glory, honor and power, Amen."f 

These formulas, so profoundly philosophi- 
cal, as we shall soon see, have been handed 
down for ages. Whether modified or not, 
they have remained in use to our time. Not- 
withstanding their hostility to the Church, 
many Protestants have retained them. 

Even to this day, a great many families in 
Germany and England never take their meals 
without praying. What will appear still 
stranger to you, is that the blessing of the 
table is found among pagan nations. Yes, 
my dear Frederic, the Romans and Greeks, 
those obliging models of our college youth, 
made religiously that which your companions, 
their disciples and admirers, are ashamed to 



* See Mamachi : Customs of Primitive Christians, t. ii. p. 47, 
Origen., in Joan, p. 36. f Stuckius, ubi supra, p. 129. 



In the Nineteenth Century. 249 



do. "Never did the ancients," says Athe- 
naeus, "take their meals without having first 
implored their gods."* 

Speaking of the Egyptians in particular, he 
adds: " Having taken their places on the 
banquet-couches, they arose, knelt down, and 
the chief of the banquet or the priest began 
the traditional prayers, which they recited 
after^ him; after that they resumed their 
places."-}- 

The same thing among the Romans. Speak- 
ing of an order for the assassination of a 
man, given by the Consul Quintius Flaminius 
during a banquet to please a courtezan, Titus 
Livy thus expresses himself: "This mon- 
strous act was committed in the midst of 
vessels filled with wine; in the midst of a 
repast, when it is the custom to pray to the 
gods, and offer libations."! 

You are aware that those libations w T ere a 
form of prayer, known everywhere and very 
frequently repeated. The Romans, for exam- 
ple, made them at almost every hour of the 
day; when they arose in the morning; when 
they retired at night; when going on a jour- 
ney; in the sacrifices, at marriages, at the 



* Dipnosophis, lib. iv. f Ibid. lib. iv. 

+ Decad. iv. lib. ix, 



250 The Sign of the Cross 



beginning and end of meals. Those ancient 
masters of the world never touched food 
until they had consecrated a part to their 
divinities. The portion thus retrenched from 
the banquet was placed on an altar, or a 
vase patella, which took the place of it. This 
was their Benedicite and their Grace. 

Remarkable perpetuity of tradition! We 
have seen that among the Jews, the blessing 
was renewed at the changing of the wine, and 
at each new dish. The same was the custom 
of the Romans. At the second course there 
w r ere particular libations to the gods whom 
they believed to preside at table. Each 
guest poured out on the table or the floor, a 
little of the wine in his cup, and recited 
certain prayers to the gods.* 

The Greeks had served as models to the 
Romans. Among them are found the same 
frequency and the same custom of libations 
at the beginning and end of the meal ; the 
same particular prayers at changing the wine. 
" Each time," says Diodorus of Sicily, "that 
they gave pure wine to the guests, the 
ancient custom was to say: 'The gift of the 
good Spirit;' and when, at the end of the 
meal, they gave wine mixed with water, they 



* Diet, of Antiq., art. Libations, 



In the Nineteenth Century, 251 



said: 'The Gift of Jupiter Saviour,' because 
pure wine is as contrary to the health of the 
soul as to that of the body."* 

They were not satisfied with particular 
Grace: they had also a general one, which 
ended the meal in which they addressed 
Jupiter, Jovis servatoris:\ 

The custom of blessing the food was so 
much respected among the Pagans, that it 
gave rise to the following proverb : " Do not 
draw out of the caldron the nonsanctified 
food. Ne a chytropode cibnm nondum sanctif- 
ficatum rapids^ 

"This proverb," says Erasmus, "signifies, 
Do not throw yourself on food like a beast, 
and eat only after having offered the first 
fruits to the gods." In fact, among the 
ancients, according to Plutarch, the repasts, 
even daily ones, Avere reckoned among the 
number of sacred things. For this reason the 
guests consecrated the first part to the gods, 
testifying by their deportment, that the act of 
eating w 7 as for them a mysterious and holy 
thing.J 

Again at the celebrated banquet of the 
suburbs of Antioch, Julian the Apostate, in 
order to renew publicly the chain of pagan 



* Lib. iv. f I'd. lib. ii. % Apud. Stuckius, p. 431. 



The Sign of the Cross 



tradition, took care to have the tables blessed 
by a priest of Apollo.* In this, the bar- 
barians imitated civilized nations. Durinor 
their meals, the Vandals handed around a 
cup consecrated to their gods by certain 
formulas."} - 

In India the king never tasted any dish 
which had not first been consecrated to the 
demon. 

Notwithstanding the difference of manners, 
civilization and climate, the inhabitants of the 
Frigid zone had the same practice as those 
of the Torrid. The ancient Lithuanians, 
Samogitians, and other northern barbarians, 
called on the demons to sanctify their tables, 
and they came. In a corner of their huts 
they kept familiar serpents. On certain 
days they caused them to go up on the table 
by means of a white table cloth : they tasted 
of every dish, and then returned into their 
holes. The meats were considered sancti- 
fied, and the barbarians ate of them without 
any fear.t 

The blessing of the table is equally found 
among the Turks and modern Jews. Faith- 
ful to the traditions of their ancestors, the 



* Sozomen. Hist. lib. 3. c. 4. 

f Crantz, lib. iii. Vandal., c. 37. 



% Stuckius. p. 431. 



In the Nineteenth Century. 253 



latter even preserve the custom of saying 
many prayers during meals. Thus, when 
they bring fruits they say: "Blessed be the 
Lord our God, who has created the fruit of 
the trees." At dessert: " Blessed be the Lord 
our God, who has created different kinds of 
food."* 

Gross as they are, the people of Chin- 
India, of China and Thibet, are no exception 
to the general custom, which I am confident 
might be found to exist even among the 
most degraded negroes of Africa. 

" We arrived at the great pagoda of Ouen- 
chou-yuen, a little before eleven o'clock," 
writes a missionary in China. "It w r as just 
the time when the bonzes sat down to table. 
Behold the spectacle of which we became the 
witnesses. In a vast refectory, ninety bonzes 
were seated back to back, before a long and 
very narrow table; with their hands joined, 
their eyes constantly fixed on the floor, they 
sang together some words which none of us 
could understand. This prayer lasted more 
than ten minutes. The chief bonze was in 
the centre behind a gilded idol, praying and 
sitting like the others, but alone before a 

* Stuckius, ubi supra; et c, xxxviii. Delibationibus anted 
post epulas. 



254 



The Sign of the Cross 



small table, somewhat raised above the 
others, on a platform, whence he had a view 
of the whole assembly. In the middle of the 
refectory, and facing the idol, was another 
bonze dressed in yellow, who offered to the 
god a bowl full of rice. Prayer being ended, 
he w 7 ho offered the rice placed it under the 
chin of the god. Then the servants hastened 
to fill the dishes on the different tables. None 
of the guests moved. The chief bonze gave 
the signal, and all fell to work. In an instant 
they had devoured a large number of buckets 
of rice, in true tavern fashion, and that was 
all."* 

Behold the Benedicite in its most solemn 
form. In this manner was it said by the first 
Christians; in this manner is it still said in 
seminaries and religious communities: — what 
a clever ape Satan is! 

As I have already said, you see, dear 
friend, that prayer before and after meals 
is as ancient as the world, as wide-spread 
as the human race. If then, the existence 
of a law is recognized by the permanency 
of its effects; if, for example, a man, by 
seeing the sun rise every morning at a par- 
ticular point of the horizon, is warranted in 



* Annals of Prop, of Faith, n. 95, p. 340, A. D. 1844. 



In the Nineteenth Century. 255 

saying that a law regulates its movements; — 
have I then, less reason to affirm that the 
blessing of the food is a law of humanity? 
To observe it, is to do like the rest of man- 
kind. Not to observe it, is to act like beasts, 
which do not belong to the human species. 
It is literally to liken one's self to a beast* 
You may ask your companions if honor 
here finds its reckoning. We shall soon 
come to the explanation of that law which 
commands the blessing of the table. 



Ps. 48. 



NINETEENTH LETTER. 



Reasons for the blessing of the table — It is an act of free- 
dom — Three tryants; the world, the flesh, the devil — 
Triple victory of the Sign of the Cross and prayer over 
food — Victory over the world: proofs — Over the flesh ; 
proofs — Over the demon: proofs — Remarkable testimony 
of Porphyrius— Facts cited by St. Gregory — Conclusion. 

December 15th, 

" It is only crocodiles that eat without 
praying." Such, you will say to me, dear 
friend, is the axiom which summed up your 
last letter. 

Your words shall remain. 
" My comrades/' you add, " have been 
beaten down, as you say in France, by the facts 
you have related, facts perfectly new to them. 
Notwithstanding all this, they do not, to-day 
any more than yesterday, make the Sign of 
the Cross before and after their meals. The 
only difference is, that I may make it with 
impunity: they are afraid of my axiom." 

These details do not surprise me. Your 
companions and their associates, like many 
256 



The Sign of the Cross. 



257 



other great talkers about liberty and inde- 
pendence, are slaves — slaves of the vilest of 
tyrants, human respect. Poor young men! 
In order to conceal their slavery, they end their 
objections by saying: "The Sign of the Cross 
is a useless and obsolete practice.'' In their 
intimate thoughts, this language signifies: 

"All those who do not eat as we do, that 
is, like beasts, belong to a more or less res- 
pectable species of blockheads ; priests and 
religious are blockheads ; true Catholics of 
every nation, blockheads ; the Jews, Egyp- 
tians, Greeks, Romans, blockheads ; the elite 
of humanity, blockheads ; the whole of hu- 
manity, blockheads; my father, mother, sisters, 
all are blockheads. I, and those like me, 
are the only wise ones on earth, the only 
enlightened ones among mortals." 

I must then tear off the mask with which 
they try to cover themselves. For this, it 
suffices to show that the blessing at table 
with the Sign of the Cross is an act of free- 
dom, an act very useful, an act out of fashion 
only in the lowest ranks of modern Chris- 
tianity. Joined to reason and honor, this 
last consideration fully justifies our conduct, 
at the same time that it gives an account of 

the universal practice of mankind. 

90* 



The Sign of the Cross 



Freedom. Three tyrants dispute the lib- 
erty of man ; yours and mine as well as that 
of your companions. Those tyrants are the 
world, the flesh, and the devil. It is in order 
that we be not enslaved by any of them, that 
we, and all mankind with us, make use of the 
blessing of the table. We have seen, and I 
repeat it, that not to make the Sign of the 
Cross before we eat, is to separate ourselves 
from the elite of mankind ; not to pray, is to 
liken ourselves to beasts. In either case it 
is to be slaves. 

Submission to despotic power is what con- 
stitutes slavery. Despotic power is that 
which has no right to command, or which 
commands against reason, against justice, 
against authority. What, then, is that power 
which prevents me from making the Sign 
of the Cross before my meals ; and, if I 
be so courageous as to disobey, threatens 
me with its scorn? What authority has it? 
From whom does it hold its commission ? 
And what are the titles which recommend 
it to my obedience, the reasons which justify 
its prohibition? This usurping power is the 
world of the present day : a world unknown 
in the annals of Christian ages, the world of 
drawing-rooms, theatres, cafes, hotels, stock- 



Li the Nineteenth Century. 259 

jobbing and exchange ; it is the customs of 
this world, the impiety of this world, the gross 
materialism of this world, the Boeotia of the 
intellect. Now this minority, born yesterday 
and already decrepit ; this factious minority, 
in continual insurrection against reason, honor 
and mankind, has the insolence to impose 
its caprices on me ! And shall I be base 
enough to submit ? And after having- taken 
my divorce from reason, honor, and the elite 
of mankind, shall I dare to speak of liberty, 
dignity, and independence? Vain parade! 
Beneath the gilded tinsel of pride would 
pierce the chains of slavery; my tattered 
disguise would but poorly conceal the figure 
of the beast, and good sense would follow 
me, repeating : " Midas, King Midas has 
ass's ears." Let the independents of our day 
be flattered by such a compliment; it is their 
own affair. As for us blockheads, we do 
not want it at any price. Shameful is the 
slavery of the world ; more shameful that of 
vice. Ingratitude is a vice, gluttony is a vice, 
impurity is a vice. Against these tyrants we 
are protected by the Sign of the Cross, and 
prayer before and after meals. 

Ingratitude. There are at the present 
day two religions: that of respect, and that 



The Sign of the Cross 



of contempt. The first respects God, the 
Church, authority, tradition, the soul, the 
body, and creatures. To it, all is sacred, 
because all comes from God, all belono-s to 
God, all must return to God. It teaches me 
to use everything in the spirit of dependence, 
because nothing is mine ; in the spirit of fear, 
because I shall have to render an account of 
all ; in the spirit of gratitude, because every- 
thing is a benefit, even the air I breathe. 
The second despises everything; God, the 
Church, authority, tradition, the soul, the 
body, and creatures. Its sectaries use and 
abuse life and the gifts of God, as if they 
were the proprietors of them, and proprie- 
tors wholly irresponsible. The first has 
inscribed on its banner the word- ''Gratitude ;" 
the second, kk Ingratitude." Both one and the 
other show themselves at the moment in 
which man, by mandu cation, assimilates to 
himself the divine gifts necessary for life. 
Faithful to the religion of respect, the elite 
of humanity pray and return thanks. They 
have too keen a sense of their dig-nitv to 
confound themselves with beasts ; too lively 
a sense of duty to remain mute when thev 
see themselves loaded with so many gifts. 
If ingratitude in regard to man be odious, 



In the Nineteenth Century. 261 



they, with good reason, find it a thousand 
times more so in regard to God. 

To be the slaves of such a vice is a dis- 
grace which thev cannot endure. Shame on 
him for whom gratitude is a burden too heavy 
to bear; the ungrateful heart was never a 
good heart. An adept in the religion of con- 
tempt is ashamed of gratitude. He eats like 
the beast, or like an unnatural son, who has 
neither in his heart a sentiment of tender- 
ness, nor on his lips an expression of grati- 
tude for the father whose inexhaustible grood- 
ness provides for all his wants, and even for 
his pleasures. 

"Do you see that child, so tenderly raised, " 
savs an illustrious Chancellor of England, 
"him, who, seated at his father's table, eats 
his bread without ever speaking of him; 
often outrages him by words, and who, as 
soon as filled, turns his back on him as on a 
stranger to whom he owes nothing-."* And 
because he exempts himself from duty, he 
believes himself to be free! He proclaims 
himself independent ! Independent of whom, 
and of what? Independent of all that should 
be hated and despised. A glorious indepen- 
dence, truly! 



* Th. Morus, ap Buranti, De ritibus, etc. lib. ii. p. 659. 



262 The Sign of the Cross 



Gluttony. Another tyrant, who seated at 
table with us, and by the viands, captivating 
the sight, taste and smell, prostrates man in 
adoration before the god of the belly. His 
mouth, instead of speaking from the abun- 
dance of the heart, speaks only of his stomach. 
It is the taste of food which he seeks, and not 
its repairing quality. He does not eat that 
he may live; he lives that he may eat. In 
the meantime, organism develops its empire; 
the intellect is darkened, the soul becomes 
enslaved. Good cheer is incompatible with 
wisdom. A great man was never a glutton ; 
all the saints have been models of sobriety.* 

Take notice, dear friend, that I speak only 
of the gluttony which seeks rich food, of 
delicacy in the choice, and greediness and 
sensuality in eating. Too frequently it is 
followed by intemperance. Now intemper- 
ance is attended by such a train of infirmities 
and diseases, that gluttony kills more men 
than the sword: Plures accidit crapida quam 
giadhisr\ 

Therefore Nebuchadnezzar, Pharaoh, Alex- 
ander, Caesar, Tamerlane, and all those 
crowned persecutors who covered the world 
with dead bodies, have caused the death of 



* Job xxviii. 13, 



f Eccles. xxxi. 23 : xxxvii. 34. 



In the Nineteenth Century. 263 



fewer men than has gluttony. Frightful mys- 
tery, which shows what profound wisdom 
there is in the Sign of the Cross and prayer 
before and after meals! By these we call 
God to our help, and arm ourselves against 
a perfidious enemy, which attacks all ages, 
sexes, and conditions, and which tends to 
enslave us to. the grossest instincts. By 
them we learn that eating is a warfare, and 
that, in order not to be vanquished, we must, 
according to the words of a great genius, take 
our food as we take remedies, through neces- 
sity, and not for pleasure.* 

Impurity. Commenced by gluttony, the 
slavery of the soul ends by impurity. — Who- 
ever feeds his flesh with delicacies, shall suf- 
fer its most shameful revolt— The fat and 
plump slave will resist. — Wine is a luxurious 
beverage. — In wine is luxury. — Pure w T ine is 
as contrary to the health of the soul as to 
that of the body. — -Drunk inconsiderately, it 
foams voluptuousness.— In the stomach of a 
young man, wine is oil to the fire, 

— Gluttony is the mother of luxury, the 
executioner of chastity. — To be greedy, yet 
expect to be chaste, is to wish to quench a 
fire with oil. — -Gluttony is the extinguisher of 



* S. Aug. Confess. ? lib. s, c. 31. 



264 The Sign of the Cross. 



the intellect.— The glutton is an idolater; he 
adores the god of the belly. The temple of 
this god is the kitchen; his altar, the table; 
his priests, the cooks; his victim, the dishes; 
his incense, the odor of the viands. — This tem- 
ple is the school of impurity. — Bacchus and 
Venus go hand in hand. — Gluttony always 
attacks us; if it triumph, it immediately calls 
in its sister Luxury. — Gluttony and Luxury 
are two inseparable demons. 

— A multitude of dishes and bottles draws 
a multitude of impure spirits: the worst of all 
is the demon of the belly. — The physical and 
moral health of the people may be judged 
'from the number of the cooks.* 



* Luxuriosa res vinum, Prov. xx. i. — Gula genitrix est lux- 
urise et castitatis carnifex. (S. Hier., Regul. monacb., c. xxxv.) 
Qui ventri diem obsequitur, fornicationis spiritum vincere vult, 
is ei similis est, qui oleo incendiuni extinguere nititur. (S. 
Joan. Clim., Grad., xiv.) — Deo ventri templum, est coquina ; 
altare, mensa; ministri, coqui, immolatse peeudes, coctaB 
carnes ; fumus incensorum, odor saporum. (Hug. a. S. Vict., 
De claustr. anim., lib. ii. c. 19.) Esus earnium et potus vini, 
ventrisque saturitas, seminarium libidinus est : unde comicus, 
sine Cerere, iniquit, et Libero friget Yenus. (S. Hier., ad 
Jovin., lib. ii.) Immundi spiritus se moegis injiciunt, ubi plus 
viderint escarurn et potuum. (S. Isidor. Hisp., De sum. bono, 
c. xliv. sent. 3.) — Gula et Luxuria, conjurata daemonise. 
(Tertull.) — -Multos morbos, multa fercula ferunt: innumera- 
biles esse morbos miraris? coquos numera. — (Senec, Ep. xcv. 
etc. etc.) 



In the Nineteenth Century. 265 



You have heard the oracles of divine and 
profane wisdom. It is the voice of ages con- 
firmed by experience. What means has man 
for preserving his liberty in the face of an 
enemy, so much the more dangerous, because 
he binds and kills while he flatters? The 
past and present know only one ; it is the 
help of God. The future shall know no 
other. 

The help of God is obtained by prayer. 
One special prayer has been established and 
practised among all nations, to fortify man 
against the temptations of the table. Those 
who make it are not always victorious.* 
And those who never make it, who despise 
it, who scoff at it, would wish to persuade 
us that they always remain masters of the 
battle-field. In order to believe them, it is 
necessary to have other proof than words; 
we must have facts. These facts are their 
morals. Let them, then, bring to light the 
mysteries of their thoughts, their desires, 
their looks, their private discourses, their 
conduct. But such a revelation is not neces- 
sary; we have it every week in the gazettes 
of scandal and public immorality. 

The demon. It is here that the stupid 



23 



* S. Aug., Confess, lib. x. 31. 



266 The Sign of the Cross 



ignorance of the present world shows itself 
most plainly. Without doubt the sacred duty 
of gratitude, as well as the imperative neces- 
sity of defending ourselves against gluttony 
and voluptuousness fully justifies the usage 
of the blessing at table. I dare affirm, how- 
ever, that there remains a reason more pro- 
found and more powerful. We have said it; 
there is a dogma of which mankind has never 
lost the remembrance; that of the subjection 
of all creatures to the prince of evil since his 
victory over the father of our race. 

All nations have believed, as much as in 
the existence of God, that creatures pene- 
trated by the malignant influences of the 
demon, become the instruments of his hatred 
against man. Thence the infinite variety of 
purifications employed in all religions, all 
ages, and all climates. But there is one cir- 
cumstance in which the use of those purifica- 
tions is invariably shown; it is in the act of 
manducation. The universality and invaria- 
bility of this custom at meal time is founded 
on two facts. The first, that the demon of 
the table is the most dangerous;* the second, 
that the union operated by manducation 
between man and his food is most intimate, 



* Clem. Alex. Poedag., lib. ii. c. i. 



the Nineteenth Century* 267 



reaching even to assimilation. Of the food 
that he has digested, man may sav: "It is 
bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh, blood of 
my blood." 

Behold why, creatures being vitiated, God 
has never permitted that man should lose 
sight of the extreme danger of communica- 
tion with them. That this universal fear is a 
deep reason of the existence of the Sign of 
the Cross and of prayer over food, is proved 
even by the formulas of blessing and thanks- 
giving. Christians or pagans, all without 
exception, ask the removal of the malevolent 
influences with which creatures are filled. 

Do you wish for something stronger, some- 
thing that may be more convincing to your 
companions than all the authorities drawn 
from the Church? Porphyrins, the greatest 
theologian of paganism, the most learned 
interpreter of the rites and mysteries of 
ancient idolatry, says in characteristic terms: 

"It must be known that the dwellings are 
full of demons. This is why we purify them 
by expelling those malevolent hosts, every 
time we pray to the gods. Moreover, all 
creatures are full of them, for they particu- 
larly relish certain kinds of food. So when 

we sit at table, they not only place themselves 
17 



2 68 The Sign of the Cross 

beside us, but also attach themselves to oiir 
bodies. Thence comes the use of lustrations, 
the principal end of which is not so much 
to invoke the gods as to expel the demons. 
They take delight principally in blood and 
impurities, and in order to satisfy themselves, 
enter into the bodies of those who are subject 
to them. There is no violent motion in the 
flesh, no vehement desire of lust in the spirit, 
wdiich is not excited by the presence of those 
hosts. "* 

Is it St. Paul whom we have just heard? 
We might believe it, so precise is this reve- 
lation of the mysteries of the supernatural 
world. Besides the occult and permanent 
influences of the demons over our food, God 
permits, from time to time, striking facts, 
which reveal the presence of the enemy, and 
the necessity of banishing him before making 
use of them. We read die following in St. 
Gregory the Great: 

"In the monastery of the abbot Equitius, it 
happened that a religious, going one day into 
the garden, saw a lettuce which excited her 
appetite. She took it, and forgetting to make 
the Sign of the Cross, ate it with avidity. At 
the same instant she was possessed by the 

* Apud Euseb. Prsep. evang. lib iv. c. 22, 



In the Nineteenth Century. 269 



demon and thrown upon the earth, a prey to 
the most frightful convulsions. The vener- 
able abbot hastened to put himself in prayer, 
begging relief for the unfortunate religious. 
Soon the demon, tormented in his turn, 
began to cry out: 'What have I done? 
What have I done ? I was on the lettuce ; 
she did not banish me from it, and she ate it/ 
In the name of Jesus Christ, the holy abbot 
commanded him to go out of the body of 
that servant of God, and never dare to 
molest her again. The demon obeyed, and 
the religious was entirely cured." 

Thus, then, facts speak as well as testimo- 
nies ; pagan theology as well as Christian 
theology ; the East like the W est ; antiquity- 
like modern times; Porphyrins like St. Greg- 
ory. What authority can your companions 
oppose to this? 

To say that mankind are blockheads, and 
the universal custom of blessing- the food a?i 
obsolete superstition, is easy, polite, and above 
all, convincing. However, as I am never sat- 
isfied with words, tell them that if they can 
allege one reason worth a Monaco penny, to 
authorize them in not making use of the 
blessing at table, I promise to give each of 
them a bust in the Pantheon. In the mean- 



The Sign of the Cross. 



time, it remains established that prayer before 
eating is a law of humanity ; and that it has 
been reserved to our epoch to produce minds 
so strong as to find it glorious to liken them- 
selves publicly, twice a day, to the dog, the 
cat and the crocodile. 

I leave you with this truth, promising for 
to-morrow another point of view. 



TWENTIETH LETTER. 



The Sigzn of the Cross is a Guide teat conducts us— Neces- 
sity of a guide — State of man heee below — The Sigh 
of the Cross conducts man to his end by remembeance 

AND BY IMITATION — REMEMBRANCE WHICH IT RECALLS — GENE- 
RAL REMEMBRANCE PARTICULAR REMEMBRANCE — PARTICULAR 

IMITATION. 

December 16:7*. 

Ennobled, instructed, enriched, protected 
by the Sign of the Cross, what remains for 
man to attain happily the end of his pilgrim- 
age? It remains for him to find a sure o-uide 
to conduct him. Like the archangel Raphael, 
sent to accompany the young- Tobias in his 
distant voyage, the Sign of the Cross pre- 
sents itself, and offers to render to all, to you 
as well as me, dear friend, the same service. 
Such is the last point of view under which 
we shall consider this adorable fcign. 

Travellers towards heaven, the Sign 
of the Cross is a guide that conducts us. 

It is midnight; the thunder rolls on all 
sides, the rain falls in torrents, ferocious 



272 



The Sign of the Cross 



beasts issuing from their dens, roar and run 
in every direction. Objects can be distin- 
guished only bv the o^lare of the lightning-. 
You are alone in the midst of your Black 
Forest, such as it was in the time of Caesar, 
immense, horrible, without road, path, or 
habitation, a vast haunt of those great bears 
of Germany, the sight of which affrighted the 
Romans, even on the inaccessible steps of 
the Coliseum. What shall become of you? 
Do you not feel the necessity of a charitable 
guide, who, appearing suddenly beside you, 
shall reassure you by his presence, and take 
you by the hand to conduct you safe and 
sound into the midst of your family? 

Feeble image of the reality ! The Black 
Forest is the world ; the tempest, with its 
darkness, its thunders, dangers and terrors, 
is life. Where am I? Whither am I o-oino-? 

o o 

What road shall I take ? Such are the ques- 
tions addressed to himself by the terrified 
man in the midst of this night so full of 
anguish. The answer is not long delayed ; 
it is whole 'and entire in the Sign of the 
Cross. 

Again, the Church, full of solicitude, teaches 
him to make it even from his cradle. Ex- 
plained by the voice of his mother, this elo- 



In the Nineteenth Century. 273 

quent sign dissipates all darkness, illuminates 
the way, and directs through life. 

" Having come from God/' it says to man, 
"you are returning to God. Image of God, 
who is love, you must return to him by love. 
Love includes remembrance and imitation. 
To think of God, to imitate God ; this is 
for you the way, the truth, and the life. 
Understand me, and you shall without diffi- 
culty fulfil the tw© fundamental laws of your 
existence." 

Nothing is more true than this language 
of the divine guide; some details will suffice 
to demonstrate this. 

Remembrance. They say in France as in 
Germany, as everywhere, to-day as four thou- 
sand years ago, that remembrance is the 
pulse of friendship. As long as the pulse 
beats, life exists. It is extinct when the 
pulse ceases to beat. In like manner, as long 
as the remembrance of the beloved object 
subsists, affection continues. It languishes 
when remembrance grows faint; it dies when 
it disappears. All this, as you know, is ele- 
mentary. We are so fully convinced that 
remembrance is a sign, a cause, a condition 
of human affection, that friends never fail 
when parting to say: " Do not forget me; I 



274 



The Sign of the Cross 



will never forget you ;" and to give tokens 
which, notwithstanding their absence, may 
preserve their mutual remembrance. 

It is with the love of God as with human 
friendships. Remembrance is its sign, its 
soul, its life. The remembrance of God 
being- the first law of our being- it behooved 
Infinite Wisdom to give us a means of accom- 
plishing it. The law being universal, this 
means should be universal. The law being 
for all, rich and poor, learned and ignorant, 
men of leisure and men of labor, the means 
should be accessible to all. The law being 
fundamental, the means should be very 
powerful. 

I have told you, dear Frederic, that the 
law of remembrance is a fundamental law of 
humanity. The justification of these words 
will show you, in a new light, the importance 
of the Sign of the Cross. 

What the sun is in the physical world, God 
is in every respect, and still more, in the 
moral world. Suppose that instead of con- 
tinuing- to shed on the world his torrents of 
light and heat, the sun is suddenly extin- 
guished; imagine what becomes of nature? 
At the same instant, vegetation is stopped, the 
rivers and seas become plains of ice, and the 



In the Nineteenth Century. 275 



earth as hard as a rock. All the malicious 
animals, which light enchains in the depth of 
the forests, issue from their caverns, and, by 
terrific howlings, call one another to the 
slaughter. Trouble and terror seize upon 
man. Everywhere reign confusion, despair, 
death ; a few days suffice to bring the w T orld 
back to chaos. Let God, the necessary sun 
of intelligences, disappear ; moral life immedi- 
ately becomes extinct. All ideas of good and 
evil are effaced. Truth and error, justice and 
injustice, are confounded in the right of the 
strongest. In the midst of such thick dark- 
ness, all the hideous cupidities, all the san- 
guinary instincts slumbering in the heart of 
man, are aroused, let loose, and without fear 
as without remorse, contend for the mutilated 
fragments of fortunes, cities, and empires. 
War is everywhere; the war of all against all, 
which makes the world a vast den of thieves 
and assassins. 

This spectacle the eye of man has never 
seen, any more than he has seen the universe 
without the planet which vivifies it. But 
what he has seen is a world on which, like the 
sun veiled with thick clouds, the idea of God 
casts only an uncertain glimmer. Thence 
have proceeded endless gropings, foolish and 



276 



The Sign of the Cross 



immoral systems, gross and cruel supersti- 
tions, passions instead of laws, crimes instead 
of virtues, materialism at the base, despotism 
at the summit, egotism everywhere, with the 
combats of the gladiators, and the banquets 
of human flesh. 

Less complete than among the pagans, 
the forgetfulness of God, produced, however, 
among the Jews, analogous effects. Twenty 
times, by the medium of his prophets, did the 
Lord attribute to this crime the iniquities of 
Jerusalem, and the chastisements with which 
she was overwhelmed. Now, Jerusalem, as 
you know r , is the type of nations. 

" Therefore thus saith the Lord: Who hath 
heard such horrible things as the virgin of 
Israel hath done to excess ? . . . because she 
hath forgotten me. . . . Thou hast walked 
in the way of thy sister Samaria, and I will 
give her cup into thy hand. Thou shalt 
drink thy sister s cup, deep and wide, and 
thou shalt become the scorn of nations." 

"Thou shalt be drunk with sorrows, drunk 
with the cup of grief and sadness, with the 
cup of thy sister Samaria." 

"And thou shalt drink it, and shalt drain it 
even to the dregs; and thou shalt devour the 
fragments thereof, and thou shalt rend thy 



In the Nineteenth Century. 277 



breasts. . . . Because thou hast forgotten 
me, and hast cast me off behind thy back; 
thou shalt bear thy crime and the chastise- 
ment of thy crime."* 

Could any one characterize with greater 
energy the fatal consequences of forgetful- 
ness of God? Now the enormity of a crime 
is measured by the sanctity of the law which 
it violates. 

The remembrance of God is, then, the 
vital law of humanity. On this basis, cal- 
culate the importance of the Sign of the 
Cross, especially destined to keep alive in 
man this salutary remembrance. 

I have said especially, and with reason. 
The Sign of the Cross is a vase filled with 
divine souvenirs. In making it, all those 
souvenirs are shed even into the very depths 
of my being. I necessarily remember the 
Father, I necessarily remember the Son, I 
necessarily remember the Holy Ghost. I 
remember the Father as Creator, the Son as 
Redeemer, the Holy Ghost as sanctifier. 

The Father recalls to you, as to me, as to 
every one who has a mind to understand, 
and a heart to love, all the divine benefits in 

* Jerem. xviii, 13, 15. Ezech, xxiii, 31, 35. Is. lvii. H, 
etc, etc. 

24 



278 The Sign of the Cross 



the order of creation. I exist and it is to 
Thee, O Father of fathers, that I owe life; 
life the basis of all natural gifts, that life 
which thou hast given to me in preference to 
so many millions of possible beings. I owe 
to thee the conservation of life. Each beat- 
ing of my heart is a benefit. Thou renewest 
it every instant of the day and the night. 
Thou dost continue it during long years, not- 
withstanding my ingratitude, notwithstanding 
the bad use that I make of it. Thou dost 
continue it to me in preference to so many 
who, born with me, after me, are dead before 
me. I owe to thee all that preserves, con- 
soles, and beautifies life; and the sun that 
enlightens me, the air that I breathe, the 
earth that sustains me, the animals that serve 
me, the garments that cover me, the remedies 
that heal me, my parents, my friends, my 
body with its senses, my soul with its facul- 
ties, and all creatures visible and invisible, 
placed so magnificently at my service. O 
Father Creator, I owe all to thee. The Son 
recalls all the divine benefits in the order 
of Redemption. When I pronounce thy 
name, O adorable Son, it transports me into 
the splendors of eternity. There I behold 
thee equal to the Father, seated upon the 



In the Nineteenth Century. 279 



same throne, happy with an infinite felicity. 
Then, suddenly, I descend into a poor stable, 
before a wretched crib, and there I behold 
thee, a little infant, deprived of every thing, 
trembling with cold, lying on a little straw, 
scarcely warmed by the caresses of thy 
Mother, and the breath of two beasts. From 
the crib, I come to the cross. What a spec- 
tacle! Thou, O my God, the Monarch of 
worlds, the King of angels and of men, art 
hanging on a gibbet, between heaven and 
earth, in the company of two thieves; thy 
body torn, thy members pierced, thy head 
crowned with thorns, thy face defiled with 
blood and spittle, and all this for love of me! 

The cross conducts me to the tabernacle. 
Before my God annihilated, before my God 
become my bread; before my God become 
my prisoner, my servant, obedient to my 
voice, to the voice of a child; before this 
abridgment of all the miracles of love, my 
tongue remains mute. The tongues of men 
and angels are powerless to stammer any- 
thing of a mystery which only infinite love 
could have conceived. 

The Holy Ghost recalls all the divine bene- 
fits in the order of sanctification. Consub- 
stantial Love of the Father and the Son, it is 



280 The Sign of the Cross 



to thee the world owes every thing. It owes 
to thee the Incarnate Word, its Redeemer: 
Qui conceptus est de Spiritu Sancto. It owes to 
thee Mary his mother: Spiritus Sa?tctus super- 
veniet in te. It owes to thee the Holy Cath- 
olic Church, that other mother, who is for the 
world and for me what Mary is for Jesus: 
Credo in Spiritum Sanctum, sanctam Ecclesiam. 
Her bowels have borne me, her milk has 
nourished me, her sacraments strengthen and 
heal me. To her I owe the Communion of 
Saints, that glorious society which places me, 
a vile creature, in intimate communication 
with the angelic hierarchies, with all the 
saints, from x^bel down to the last of the 
elect. To her I owe the preservation of the 
Gospel, that luminous torch which has drawn 
the human race out of barbarism, and pre- 
vents it from returning to it again. 

Do you know any souvenir so fruitful, so 
eloquent as the Sign of the Cross ? The 
philosopher, the politician, the Christian, 
sometimes ask for books to meditate ; here 
is one which can take the place of all others. 
This book, intelligible to all, legible to all, 
gratuitously given, is within the reach ot 
every one. Such has God made it, and what 
He has made, He has made well. 



hi the Nineteenth Century. 281 



Imitation. To remember God, is the first 
law of our being. You see, dear friend, the 
importance of this law, and how the Sign of 
the Cross helps us to accomplish it. To imi- 
tate God, is another law no less fundamental. 
On this point, a reasonable mind never enter- 
tains the least doubt. Is not every being 
obliged to tend to its perfection ? Is it not 
for this, and for this alone, that life has been 
given to it? What then can be the perfec- 
tion of a being, if it does not consist in its 
resemblance to the type on which it has been 
formed? Is not the picture so much the 
more perfect, as it better expresses the traits 
of the model ? Man is made to the image 
of God. To copy trait for trait this divine 
Prototype, to assign to his perfection no 
other bounds than the perfection of his 
sublime Model ; such is the law of his 
being, and the obligatory labor of his en- 
tire life. 

" I have given you the example/' said the 
God-man, " that as I myself have done, so 
you do also." And His great Apostle: "Be 
you imitators of me, as I myself am of the 
Incarnate Word ; no salvation for those who 
shall not be found conformed to the divine 
type." 

24* 



282 



The Sign of the Cross 



Now nothing is more fit to guide us in this 
way of imitation than the Sign of the Cross. 
What does man do in forming it? He pro- 
nounces the name of God, for God is the 
Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, three 
distinct Persons in one and the same Divin- 
ity. By repeating to man the name of God, 
the Sign of the Cross places before his eyes 
his Eternal Model, the Being by excellence, 
in whom are united all perfections in an 
infinite degree. 

Again, in repeating the name of each per- 
son of the august Trinity, it proposes to our 
imitation the particular perfections of each. 
In the Father, infinite power, and it says to 
me : • You must imitate the power of the 
Father, Creator and Moderator of all things, 
by the government of yourself and the world; 
by the empire over your passions, over the 
maxims, customs, interests, fashions, threats 
and promises, contrary to the liberty and 
dignity of a child of God, a king like his 
Father. 

In the Son, infinite wisdom, and it says to 
me : You must imitate the wisdom of the 
Son, by the justness of your appreciations 
and judgments ; by the preference invariably 
given to the soul over the body, to eternity 



In the Nineteenth Century. 283 



over time, duty over pleasure, to riches that 
remain over goods that pass away. 

In the Holy Ghost, infinite love, and it 
says to me : You must imitate the charity 
of the Holy Ghost, by regulating and enno- 
bling your affections, by tearing from your 
heart even the last fibre of egotism, jealousy, 
hatred, and all the vices which produce 
degradation within, and trouble without 

What do you think of it ? Is not the Sign 
of the Cross an excellent guide ? Where is 
the professor of philosophy who can flatter 
himself with showing more clearly the way 
of perfection? Nevertheless, we have learned 
only one part of its teachings ; the others 
to-morrow. 



TWEXTY-FIRST LETTER. 



General Imitation — Imitation of the sanctity of God — 
What sanctity is— The Sign of the Cross the sancti- 
fier of man and of creatures — imitation of the charity 
of God — What charity is in God — What it should be in 
us — In teaching it to us, the Sign of the Cross is an 

ELOQUENT AND SURE GUIDE — INCONTESTABLE PROOFS. 

December l$th. 

Dear Friend : 

Thanks to the Sign of the Cross, each per- 
son of the adorable Trinity places himself, in 
some sort, before us, that we may copy Him. 
Under the great name of God, they offer to 
our imitation all perfections united. From 
among; them I choose two, shining more bril- 
liantly, and more necessary to be imitated 
now than ever: sanctity and charity. 

Sanctity. — Sanctity means unity, freedom 
from all foreign mixture. God is holy, 
because He is one. He is thrice holy, 
because he is thrice one. One in power, 
because it is infinite; one in wisdom, because 
it is infinite; one in love, because it is infi- 
284 



The Sign of the Cross, 28 



nite. In God nothing* limits, nothing alters 
this triple unity. He is holy, perfectly holy, 
completely holy in Himself, for the reason I 
have just alleged. 

He is holy in His works. In none can He 
suffer guilty mixture, disorder, or t© call it by 
its true name, sin. The angels falling from 
heaven, man expelled from the terrestrial 
paradise, the world drowned by the deluge, 
Sodom consumed by fire, the Roman empire 
falling under the blows of barbarians, the 
great Victim of Calvary crucified between 
two thieves, calamities public or private, hell 
with its eternal fires; all are so many testi- 
monies of the inexorable sanctity of God in 
His creatures. Great lesson, which the Sign 
of the Cross incessantly gives me. I cannot 
make it, but it says to me: Image of a God 
holy, thrice holy, inexorably holy, you your- 
self must be holy, thrice holy, inexorably 
holy, in your memory, your understanding, 
your will. 

Holy in my soul and body, holy in myself 
and my works, whether alone or in company, 
young or old, powerful or feeble, holy in all, 
holy everywhere, holy always; such is the 
divine unity which I must realize in myself, 
"O, man!" exclaims Tertullian, "how great 



236 



The Sign of the Cross 



thou art, if thou dost comprehend thyself!" 
homo, tantum nomen si intelligas te! 

This is not enough; like God Himself, I 
must realize it outwardly. Over all that sur- 
rounds me should be spread the sanctity or 
unity of my life. Examples, words, prayers, 
nothing in me which does not serve to 
remove the evil, the dualism from my neigh- 
bor, like me, the image of God, like me, 
created for unity. In this obligation, so 
vividly recalled by the Sign of the Cross, do 
those prodigies of devotedness, incessantly 
renewed in the bosom of Catholicity, take 
their origin. 

Ask our legions of apostles of both sexes, 
what it is that leads them to place at the ser- 
vice of unknown barbarians, intellects the 
most noble, lives the most pure, blood the 
most generous. All will reply: The words of 
the Master. We have heard the Word, the 
Redeemer, ordaining that all the members 
of the human family should be marked with 
the august Sign of the Trinity. Immortal as 
Himself, this word resounds in our hearts, 
and w r herever there is a forehead still un- 
marked by the liberating sign, we hasten, we 
work, we die. - 

Hear the general-in-chief of those heroic 



In the Nineteenth Century. 287 



legions, Xavier, the St. Paul of modern times, 
You know that, by his gigantic labors, this 
wonderful man conquered a world to civiliza- 
tion and the faith. But what powerful lever 
raised his courage and that of his successors, 
even to temerity; his ambition and theirs, 
even to enthusiasm and folly? sanctissima 
Trinitas! O most holy Trinity! This war- 
cry, almost as frequent as respiration on the 
lips of Xavier, reveals to you the common 
thought. With an eye illumined by faith, the 
apostle considers the numerous nations of 
India, China, and Japan. He sees them 
seated in the shadow of death, and bearing 
on their dishonored brows the sign of the 
beast, instead of the glorious character of the 
Trinity. At this spectacle of utter degrada- 
tion his zeal is inflamed, and from his heav-. 
ing breast escapes the war-cry, O sanctissi- 
ma Trinitas! O most holy Trinity! 

What dishonor for Thee! What misfor- 
tune for the work of Thy hands ! And to 
repair those disfigured images by engraving 
on their foreheads the divine sign, Xavier 
rushes forward like a giant. Space dimin- 
ishes beneath his feet. He laughs at dangers, 
and places no other bounds to his repairing 
ambition than the limits of the world. Even 



288 



The Sign of the Cross 



the world itself seems too little for his heart, 
and his travels are equal to three times its 
circumference.* 

Although dearii does not permit him to go 
through it in every sense, yet he points out 
to his successors the nations to be conquered. 
His desire is accomplished. Borne on the 
wings of the wind, according- to Fenelon's 
expression, thousands of missionaries shall 
arrive in every isle, every forest, every 
region, however distant, however inhospita- 
ble it may be. 

Their first care shall be to reestablish on 
the forehead of man, sunk even into canni- 
balism, the sanctifying Sign of the Cross, 
repeating, like their chief: O sanctissima Trini- 
tas! That such is the motive which animates 
evangelical conquerors, is proved by the fact 
that all their ministry consists in marking 
infidel nations with the seal of the adorable 
Persons, and afterwards in maintaining invio- 
late the divine resemblance. 

The Sign of the Cross does yet more. It 
sanctifies all that it touches; man or crea- 
tures. Now, in sanctifying creatures after 
having sanctified man, the divine guide leads 
ail things back to their end, unity. It is an 



* Life of St. Fr, Xavier, t. ii., liv. vi. p. 208-213. 



In the Nineteenth Century. 289 



article of universal faith, that religious signs 
have power to modify inanimate creatures: 
we have seen it in all that precedes. Because 
it is universal, such a belief cannot be false. 
The great Mistress of truth regards it as part 
of the deposit confided to her care. Each day- 
she practises it, and teaches the practice of it. 

See the Catholic Church during eighteen 
centuries and in every part of the globe, 
sanctifying by the Sign of the Cross, water, 
salt, oil, bread, wax, stone, wood, and all 
insensible creatures. 

What is it, theologically, to say that the 
Sign of the Cross sanctifies man and crea- 
tures? In regard of man, I do not pretend 
that the Sign of the Cross confers on him 
sanctifying grace, or that it is an instrument 
proper to confer it, like the sacraments. I 
mean that it communicates a kind of sanctifi- 
cation, like that of the catechumen on whom 
this divine sign is made before baptism: 
"For," says St. Augustin, "there are sanctifi- 
cations of many kinds."* 

The Sign of the Cross is an act to which 
God attaches the application of the merits 
of His son, without, however, giving it the 
virtue of baptism or penance. Almsgiving is 



* Lib. ii. De Peccat, merit, et remiss. ? c. cxxvi. 



290 The Sign of the Cross 



not a sacrament; and nevertheless, it is some- 
thing good, pious, salutary and sanctifying. 

As to creatures, to sanctify an inanimate 
thing, is it not to give it a physical and in- 
herent quality? Is it not to bring it back to 
its native purity, and communicate to it a 
virtue superior to its nature? From this 
proceed two effects of sanctification. 

The first purifies creatures in this sense, 
that it frees them from the influences of the 
demon. The second renders them proper to 
produce effects beyond their natural strength. 
Thus modified, they become, in the hands of 
man, instruments of healing, arms against 
the demons, preservatives against dangers 
of soul and body. 

How many miraculous events, public and 
private, ancient and modern, could we cite 
as due to those creatures; irrational, indeed, 
but sanctified by the Sign of the Cross. If, 
instead of wasting- their time in dabbling in 
the pagan fables, and legends of Rome and 
Greece, the rising generations would study 
the history of the Church and the lives of 
the saints, your companions would know, on 
this point, many facts better proved than 
those of Alexander and Socrates.* 



* See Gretzer, p. 696, et suiv. 



Iii the Nineteenth Century. 291 



It is not by the imitation of the divine 
sanctity alone, but of the divine charity also, 
that the Sign of the Cross, as an eloquent 
and sure guide, places us, keeps and sustains 
us in our way. 

Charity. — God, whose children we are, and 
whose images we ought to be, is charity; 
Dens chai'itas est. This word tells every- 
thing. It tells what God is in Himself and in 
His works. The Father being God, is char- 
ity. The Son being God, is charity. The 
Holy Ghost being God, is charity. The 
Trinity whole and entire, is charity. God is 
charity ! Do you know a name more beauti- 
ful ? And the Sign of the Cross, each time 
that we make it, repeats this to our hearts. 

Charity means union and effusion. Be- 
tween the three august Persons all is union 
and unity: unity of power, unity of thoughts, 
unity of operations, unity of happiness, unity 
of essence. Even the shadow of a discord 
never troubles this perfect, this ravishing 
harmony. Why ? Because one only love, 
a" love, full, eternal and unalterable, is the 
delightful bond of the Trinity. 

Effusion. — Essentially communicative, cha- 
rity tends to spread itself abroad, and infinite 
charity, with infinite strength and abundance. 



292 The Sign of the Cross 

Now the exterior works of God are creation, 
conservation, redemption, sanctification, glo- 
rification. 

Now to create is to love ; to conserve is 
to love ; to redeem is to love ; to sanctify is 
to love ; to glorify is to love. All charity 
comes from the heart. God is, then, a heart. 
Do you know a name more delightful? And 
this name the Sign of the Cross repeats to 
us every time we make it. 

God is charity. To you as to me, as to 
every man, whatever be his age or condition, 
this world tells what we ought to be. Images 
of God, we should resemble Him. To re- 
semble Him is to be charity, charity in our- 
selves and in our works. In ourselves, by 
the supernatural bond of grace which unites 
among themselves all our faculties, ennobles 
them, strengthens one by the other, and 
causes all to tend to the same end, the form- 
ation of the perfect resemblance between 
God and us. 

In our works, by the Divine principle, 
which, uniting us to all men, as members of 
the same body, makes our heart beat in 
unison with theirs, and sheds its salutary effu- 
sions on all that belongs to them, thus realiz- 
ing the last wish of our Divine Master: O 



In the Nineteenth Century. 293 



Father! that they may be one as we also are 
one. 

I stop, my dear Frederic, at these points, 
which you can easily develop. They suffice 
to show the importance of the Sign of the 
Cross as the guide of man. If your com- 
rades have the misfortune to doubt it, pro- 
pose to them the following questions : 

Is it true or not, that nothing is more 
calculated to remind us of God and the Trin- 
ity than the Sign of the Cross ? 

Is it true or not, that man is formed to the 
image of God? 

Is it true or not, that the first duty, and 
the natural tendency of any being whatever, 
is to reproduce in itself the type after which 
it has been made? 

Is it true or not, that if man does not make 
persevering efforts to form himself to the 
image of God, he inevitably forms himself to 
the image of the demon, and of his unruly 
passions; so that in not becoming, day by 
day, more holy, more charitable, more like 
God, he daily becomes more perverse, more 
egotistical, more like the demon, more of a 
beast, aninialis homo? 

Is it true or not,, that man continually 
tends, either with or without his knowledge, 

25* 



294 



The Sign of the Cross, 



to make all that surrounds him like himself, 
and that from each permanent action pro- 
ceeds sanctification or perversion, order or 
disorder, the salvation or the ruin of individ- 
uals, families, societies, beliefs and morals? 

However little they may have of logic, and 
above all, of impartiality, their answer, I have 
no doubt, will be what it should. With us 
they must conclude that nothing is better 
founded, or, to use the language of the day, 
more profoundly philosophical than the fre- 
quent, and very frequent use of the Sign of 
the Cross. They will conclude that neither 
the primitive Christians, nor the true Chris- 
tians of every age, nor the Catholic Church, 
nor in fine, the elite of humanity have been 
deceived in invariably preserving the use of 
this mysterious sign. They will conclude 
that error, blame and disgrace belong to the 
despisers of the Sign of the Cross; that in 
not making it, in being ashamed to make it, 
in laughing at those who make it, they rank 
themselves with the refuse of humanity, de- 
grade themselves beneath the pagans, and 
liken themselves to beasts. 

What remains, then, for them and for us? 

In my last letters, you shall learn it. 



TWENTY-SECOND LETTER. 



Sentence of the judgment between us and the first Chris- 
tians — First obligation, to make the Sign of the Cross 
boldly, to make it often, and to make it well — reasons 
for making it boldly — disgrace and danger of not making 
it — State of the physical and moral health of the world 
of the present day — Impossibility of man's not bearing 
either the sign of god, or the sign of the demon — w'hat 
the sign of the demon is. 

December \Wi. 

Dear Frederic: 

When, in civil affairs, a judgment without 
appeal is rendered, what remains to the 
parties? Only one thing. Under pain of 
revolt and all the consequences of revolt, it 
must be executed. It is the same in doctrinal 
questions. When an infallible authority has 
pronounced upon a point in litigation, only 
one course remains. Under pain of a revolt 
much more grievous, and all the conse- 
quences of that revolt, the decree of the 
supreme tribunal must be taken as the rule 
of conduct. 

A trial was instituted between us and the 



296 The Sign of the Cross 



early Christians. It was to be decided who 
were right or wrong; the first Christians who 
made the Sign of the Cross, made it very 
often, and made it well; or modern Chris- 
tians who do not make the Sign of the Cross, 
make it seldom, or make it badly. The 
cause has been carefully examined, the 
debates published, the pleadings heard. The 
elite of humanity, constituted as a sovereign 
tribunal, and having for assistant judges, faith, 
reason, experience, and nations, even those 
which were pagan, have decided in favor 
of the Christians of the primitive Church. 
What remains for us to do? We must renew 
the glorious chain of our ancient traditions, 
so unhappily broken, and make the Sign of 
the Cross boldly, make it often, make it well. 

Make the Sign of the Cross boldly and 
openly. And why should we not do so. 
Why be ashamed of making it? Remark 
well, my dear friend, that to make, or not 
make the Sign of the Cross, is not an optional 
thing. He who makes it honors himself; he 
who does not make it, dishonors himself. 

In making the Sign of the Cross, we have 
behind us, around us, with us, all the great 
men and grand ages of the East and W est ; 
all the immortal Catholic nation, the elite of 



In the Nineteenth Century. 297 



humanity. In not making it, we have behind 
us, around us, with us, the shallow-minded 
heretics, unbelievers, and ignoramuses, the 
little and great beasts. In making the Sign 
of the Cross we cover both ourselves and 
creatures with an invincible armor. In not 
making it, w T e disarm ourselves, and expose 
both ourselves and creatures to the gravest 
perils. 

Both man and the world necessarily live 
under the influence of the Spirit of good or 
the Spirit of evil. Master of man and of 
creatures, the Spirit of evil makes them feel 
his malignant influence ; body and soul, mind 
and matter are vitiated by it. This funda- 
mental truth has been believed by all mankind. 

Again, for more than eighteen centuries 
the chiefs of the eternal combat have not 
ceased to cry out to us with one voice, to 
cover both ourselves and creatures with the 
Sign of the Cross, a buckler, impenetrable to 
the burning darts of the enemy: Scutum in 
quo ignitcz diaboli extinguunhtr sagittce. And 
we, soldiers unfaithful to our instructions, vol- 
untarily cast aside our armor? With naked 
breast, we stupidly remain exposed to the 
deadly blows of the armed enemy ! And all 
this, that we may not displease others ; and 



2 q3 The Sign of the Cross 



such others! But they say: "The present 
world does not make the Sign of the Cross, 
and it is none the worse for it." Is this quite* 
certain ? What is to-day the general health 
of man and of nature? Do you not hear it 
repeated every day in Germany as in France, 
as everywhere, "There is no more health"? 
This saying, now become popular, is it no 
more than a saying? Even optimists tell it 
to you. Do you believe then that the divine 
laws made for man, mind and matter, have 
not in this life a double sanction, one moral, 
the other physical ? Do you believe that 
the profanation, becoming more and more 
general, of the days consecrated to the re- 
pose of man and creatures, the contempt oi 
the laws of fast and abstinence, the abandon- 
ment of the bread of life, can compromise 
only the salvation of the soul ? 

Do you believe that the over-anxiety of 
affairs, the agitations of politics, the fever of 
enjoyments, distinctive character of a world 
which has undertaken to make heaven des- 
cend upon earth; the effeminacy of manners, 
the abnormal habit of turning night into day 
and day into night, the searches of sensuality 
in food, the frightful consumption of alcoholic 
liquors, our five hundred thousand coffee- 



In the Nineteenth Century. 299 



houses and taverns are without influence on 
the public health? Whence, then, proceeds 
the diminution of strength in modern genera- 
tions ? Would it be easy to find to-day, 
many young men capable of handling the 
arms of our ancestors of the middle ages, 
or even of carrying their armor? 

Those numerous reforms, made by the 
councils of revision on account of etiolation 
or defects of conformation ; the inability of 
so many persons, even religious, to observe 
the law of fasting, although so much miti- 
gated, have they no signification ? What 
says that augmentation, already considerable 
yet ever increasing, of apothecaries, phy- 
sicians, health officers and healing mediums, 
w r hose antechambers will soon be as much 
frequented as the offices of the most eminent 
medical men? 

Finally, those cases of suicide and insanity, 
which in our time have swelled to such 
unprecedented numbers, and are still increas- 
ing, are they very reassuring symptoms of 
the public health? Even allowing to them 
only a limited value, do these facts and many 
others, demonstrate that the man of to-day 
is no worse than the man of former times? 
And the health of nature, over which is no 



30o 



The Sign of the Cross 



longer made the liberating sign, is it still im- 
proving? What means the disease of the 
potatoes, the disease of the vine, the diseases' 
of trees, vegetables, plants, and herbs, even 
of pasture? All these unhealthy plants, 
which number more than one hundred, at- 
* tacked simultaneously by serious, unknown 
and obstinate diseases, do they prove the 
perfect health of creatures ? This phenome- 
non, all the more inauspicious, as it is without 
analogy in history, does it not rather seem 
to give to actual nature the appearance of a 
great hospital, in which, like the human spe- 
cies, all suffers, all languishes, all dies.* 

It cannot then be denied; considered in 



* I will here give you a list of the trees, shrubs, plants, and 
vegetables, actually diseased, indicating at the same time the 
maladies which destroy them. S, indicates lepis, or spots. 
0, oidium, R 3 rust or blast. I, insects: small worms lodged 
on or beneath the surface of the leaves. 



Oak. S. I. 
Beech, S. I. 
Elm, S. R. I. 
Birch, S. L 
Ash, S. I. 

Poplar, (Italian,) S. I. 
Poplar, (Canadian.) S. R. 
Chestnut, S. 
Maple, S. 
Willow, S. R. 
Ebony, S, L 



TEEES. 



Linden, S. 
Plane, S. 
Apple, S. L 
Pear, S. I. 
Cherry, S. 
Plum, S. 
Apricot, S. 0. 
Mulberry, S. 0. 
Orange, S. 0. 
Vine, S. 0. 



In the Nineteenth Century. 301 



man, and in creatures immediately subjected 
to man, the world of our day is diseased, 
more diseased than formerly. But what is 



Rose. s. r. 0. 1. 

Hawthorn, S. 0. I. 
Glicynia cinensis, S. 
Raspberry, S. R. 
Blackberry, S. R 0. 
Eglantine, 0. 
Gooseberry, S. I. 
Ribes nigrum et rubrum, S. 
Berberis vulgaris, 0. 

Peonies of different species. S. 
Millefolium, S. 0. 
Campanula, R. 
Thistle, S. 0. 

Wild plants of dif. species, 
Chamomile, S. 
Violet, S. 
Pblox, S. 
Daisy, S. 
Erytkrina, S. 

Wheat, S. R. 
Rye, R. 
Oats, S. R. 
Barley, R, 
Potatoes, S. 
Kidney Beans, S. R. 
Salsify, R. 
Celery, R. 
Sorrel, R. 



Lilac, S. I, 
Jasmine, S. 
Elder, S. 
Snowball, S. 
Wezelia, S. 
Syringa vulgaris, S. 
Althaea, S. I. 
Filbert, S. t 
Osier, S. R. 

PLANTS. 

I Queen of the meadow, S. 
j Diclytra spectabilis, S. 

Heliotrope, S. 
j Primrose, S. 
Dandelion, S. 
Gladiola,. S. R. 
Chicory, S. R. 0. 
Scabious, S. 
Long Dragon, R. 

VEGETABLES. 

Cabbage, S. R. 
Turnip, R, I. 
Beet root, R. 
Bean, S. R, 
Clover, S. 0. 
Bulrush, S. R, 
Reed, R. 

Field herbs of different kinds, R. 
Wild herbs of dif. kinds, S. R. 0. 



We owe the above list to the kindness of M. F. Vereeruysse 
de Courtrai. He himself collected, in 1862, leaves of all the 
26 



302 



The Sign of the Cross 



the malady? It is the enfeebling of life. The 
Word Creator is life and all life. To ap- 
proach Him is to augment life, to retire from 
Him is to diminish it. In the judgment of 
the Church and all Christian ao-es, the exte- 
rior act, the feature of union the most uni- 
versal and most ordinary which places man 
and creatures in contact with the Life, is the 
Sio-n of the Cross. Now. you laugh at it, 
you do not make it; you do not wish to 
make it. As far as you are concerned, you 
replace it, and also the prayers and pilgrim- 
diseased plants, of which he has been kind enough to send us 
specimens. We beg him to allow us to offer him the public 
expression of our gratitude. Material creatures being inca- 
pable of either good or evil, are diseased only by resilience 5 
they follow the condition of man. Man being the centre and 
abridgment of the creation, encloses within himself all the 
laws which regulate inferior creatures. If he violates them, 
the consequences of his violation are felt by all nature. Wit- 
ness the sin of Adam. To the like cause, reproduced in the 
course of ages, we must attribute the maladies of creatures, 
always in direct proportion to the cause which produces them, 
Does it not seem as if Isaiah was looking forward to our epoch 
when he wrote: 14 The earth is infected by the inhabitants 
thereof. From thence tears, mourning, weakness of the earth, 
decay of the world; the malady of the vine, and the mourning 
of the cultivators. Luxit et defluxit terra, et infirmata est 
. . . de fluxit orbis . . . et terra infecta ut ab habita- 
toribus suis, quia. . . . Mutayerunt Jus . . . propter 
hoc . . . infirmata est vitis etc. xxiv. 4. ana foil. Ha- 
bacuc. Jeremias and the other prophets speak in the same 
terms of this agony of nature. 



In the Nineteenth Century. 303 



ages of former times, by sea-bathing, by 
waters hot, cold, tepid, sulphureous, or fer- 
ruginous, from Vichy, Switzerland, Germany, 
or the Pyrenees. And in creatures, by artifi- 
cial manure, ecJienillctge, draining, and sul- 
phur. All very well; only it is necessary to 
do the one, and not omit the other: Hcec 
oportuii facere et ilia non omittere. 

Thus the people of the world of our day, 
despisers of wisdom both human and divine, 
believe that they can violate with impunity a 
law religiously observed from the foundation 
of Christianity, and respected even by the 
pagans, who had it as a formula in the cele- 
brated maxim: It is necessary to pray in order 
to enjoy physical and moral health, Oi'andum 
est ttt sit mens sand in cor pore sano. Let us 
not complain ; we have what we have, and it 
is our due. Even were the physical health 
of man and nature, bereft of the Sign of the 
Cross, to be as flourishing as they pretend, 
there would still remain the moral health, far 
-more important than the first. Xow, ay hat is 
the sanitary state of souls in the world of our 
clay? The answer would lead me too far. I 
only remind you that the moral man, as well 
as the physical, has the inevitable alternative 
either to live under the salutary influence of 



304 



The Sign of the Cross 



the good Spirit, or the malevolent influence 
of the evil Spirit. The Sign of the Cross 
places us under the first; the absence of this 
sign abandons us to the second. Such is, 
again, the teaching of the Church, confirmed 
by the practice of Christian ages. 

This experience of eighteen hundred years 
is nothing to you. You no longer want the 
sacred sign; you no longer have any faith in 
it; you no longer make it on your forehead, 
your lips, your heart, or your food. Ah, well! 
the demon will mark his own. On all those 
foreheads, on all those lips, on all those 
hearts, on all that food, shall be seen, with- 
out any necessity for a microscope, the sign 
of the beast. 

What is the sign of the beast on the fore- 
head? It is pride, insubordination, anger, 
contempt, effrontery, agitation of the fea- 
tures; inaptitude for spiritual sciences, disgust 
for moral studies; pleasures tarnished by the 
vice of impurity or consumed by wine; some- 
thing heavy in the countenance; something 
low, dull and bestial; the cynicism of eyes 
full of adultery, full of a sin that never ends, 
continually alluring unstable souls.* 

What is it on the lips? Laughter, either 



* 1 Cor. 11, 14. 2 Pet. 11, 14. 



In the Nineteenth Century. 



immodest or immoderate, foolishly impious 
or cruelly mocking; talkativeness without 
rule, without importance, without aim, ob- 
scene words, words of deceit, irreligion, blas- 
phemy, hatred, detraction and jealousy; too 
full of concupiscences which rise like a foam, 
infectious as the exhalations of a sepulchre, 
deadly as the venom of a viper.* 

What is it in the heart? Bad thoughts, 
wicked desires, fornications, impurities, trea- 
sons, the shameful littlenesses of egotism ; 
thefts, poisonings, murders,f the reign, of 
courtesans, the apotheosis of actresses. 

What is it over eatables? Their perni- 
cious influence. Not having been delivered 
by the saving sign, they serve, as even the 
pagans themselves acknowledged, as vehicles 
to the demon. Placed by manducation in 
intimate contact with the inferior part of the 
soul, they excite its appetites, flatter its base 
instincts, and stir up its passions. 

Hence, what we now see ; nicety in 
choice, sensuality in eating and drinking, des- 
potism of the flesh, disgust for labor, power- 
lessness to resist temptation, the abasement 
and sometimes brutalizing of the intellect, 
softness of morals, Sybaritism of habits, the 



* Ps. 5, 11. Jud. 13. 

26* 



f Matth. xv. 19, etc. 



The Sign of the Cross. 



adoration of the god of the belly, completed 
to-day more than ever by contempt of self, 
by the stifling of conscience and the moral 
sense, by suicide and infanticide.* Look 
around you, my dear friend ; seek for coun- 
tenances, lips, hearts and tables, where are 
preserved the health, dignity, and sobriety 
of the man and the Christian ; lives pure and 
mortified ; lives strong against temptations, 
lives devoted to virtue and charity, lives 
which may, without shame, be revealed to 
friends or enemies ; you will find them only 
under the protection of the Sign of the 
Cross. 

What I have told you to-day, accept as a 
fact of experience. To-morrow I will give 
you the reasons and proofs of it. 



* Philip, iii. 18. 



TWENTY-THIRD LETTER. 



EeASOUS OF THE POWER AND EXALTED MISSIOH OF THE SlGST OF 

the Cross — Fundamental dogma — What happens in the 
political order a figure of what takes place in the 
moral order — the reformation, first daughter of the 
r kyi ya l of paganism, throws down all the crosses — the 
French Revolution, second daughter of Paganism, imi- 
tates HER SISTER SECOND OBLIGATION, TO MAKE THE SlGN OF 

the Cross frequently — Reasons drawn from our present 
state — Third obligation : to make it well, condition — The 
Sign of the Cro^s, eternal sign of yictory — Constantine — ■ 
Praises of the Sign of the Cross. 

You do not forget, my clear Frederic, 
that we draw practical conclusions from the 
judgment rendered between us and our an- 
cestors. The first is, that we should make 
the Sign of the Cross courageously. 

Although the decision of a tribunal without 
appeal suffices to determine our conduct, I 
have wished, in order to render it more 
"worthy of respect, to show you the shame, 
the dangers and misfortunes which would be 
the consequence of a revolt- either theoretical 
or practical. Facts have spoken. You have 



3 o3 



The Sign of the Cross 



seen the sign of the beast engraven on those 
foreheads, hearts, lips and aliments, unsancti- 
fied by the divine sign. Whence does this 
proceed? I have promised to tell you. 

The sign of the beast is inevitably imprinted 
on man, and on every thing unprotected by 
the sign, the liberator of man and the world : 
it cannot be, it never shall be otherwise. As 
for the world there is but one lightning-con- 
ductor, so for man there is but one preserva- 
tive against the demon, — it is the Sign of 
the Cross. Where it is not, there Satan is 
master. 

This fact, as we have repeatedly seen, 
holds to the most profound, and, altogether, 
the most incontestable dogma of humanity; 
the servitude of man and the world to the Spirit 
of evil- since the original fall. To render 
more palpable what I say of the exalted 
mission of the Sign of the Cross, allow me 
to remind you of some historical facts, too 
seldom noticed. 

What happens in the political world is but 
a reflection of what takes place in the moral. 
Now when a dynasty ascends the throne, its 
first care is to erect its standard and engrave 
its coat-of-arms everywhere. This is the 
sign of its sovereignty. Does it happen to 



In the Nineteenth Century. 309 

be overthrown? The first act of the con- 
queror is to destroy the emblems of the van- 
quished dynasty, and replace them by his 
own. Thus is announced to the eyes of the 
people the inauguration of a new reign. 
How many times during the last seventy 
years have we seen in France and elsewhere, 
this change of colors and escutcheons! In 
coming to take possession of His kingdom, 
the Incarnate Word found Satan the king 
and god of the world. The statues, trophies, 
coat-of-arms, and insignia of the usurper 
were everywhere. He being vanquished, all 
those signs of his sovereignty disappeared. 
In their place shone the arms of the Victor, 
the cross. When, for its crimes, a soul or a 
country is again abandoned to Satan, and he 
takes possession of it, the first act of the 
usurper is to cause the Sign of the Cross to 
disappear. Then it is, and only then, that 
having no longer to fear this formidable sign, 
he acts therein as master. 

Read again one page in the history of your 
own country. From 1520 to 1530, what 
spectacle does Germany present to you? 
From the Rhine to the Danube, all those 
crosses which, from the victory of Christianity 
over Scandinavian idolatry, had crowned the 



The Sign of the Cross 



hills and mountains, bordered the roads, 
enamelled the fields, ornamented the tops of 
houses, shone on the summits of churches, 
decorated the apartments of the rich, or con- 
soled the cottages of the poor, were thrown 
down, broken into fragments, cast to the 
winds, or draped in the mire, amidst the 
vociferations of a delirious people. What 
did that destructive storm announce? The 
advent of the victor, the reestablishment of 
his reign. Since that time the Spirit of dark- 
ness has ruled Germany. There, as in the 
ancient world, he reigns by despotism, volup- 
tuousness, cruelty, and robbery, by the con- 
fusion of right and wrong, by intellectual 
anarchy, under every name and form. 

We find the like spectacle in Prussia, 
Saxony, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Nor- 
way, England, Switzerland, and every country 
where the usurper has taken the place of 
the rightful Kino-. This fact is the more siof- 
nificant, as it is not isolated in history. We 
see it reproduced every time that Satan 
retakes possession of a country. It gives 
the character of the infernal victory, whe- 
ther general or particular, slow or rapid, and 
measures its extent. 

In 1S30 the crosses thrown down might 



Iii the Nineteenth Century. 3 1 1 



be counted only by hundreds ; 1830 was an 
abortion of 1793. In the latter epoch, epoch 
of the complete triumph of paganism, it 
was far otherwise. By thousands might be 
counted the crosses thrown down and broken 
on the soil of France, In that time of sad, 
yet instructive remembrances, there is one 
da}', inauspicious beyond all others, The 
tenth of August, 1792, saw the throne and 
altar sink in blood, under the blows of fanat- 
ical hordes. The massacres of the Carmes 
and St. Firmin, the proclaiming of the Re- 
public, the assassination of Louis XVL, the 
hecatombs of the Reign of Terror, the filthi- 
ness of the Directory, the apostasies and 
sacrileges, the goddesses of Reason, were 
only the consequences of that lamentable 
day. It shall eternally mark the precise hour 
in which Satan made his triumphant entry 
into the most Christian kingdom. 

"Now, at that moment," writes an histo- 
rian of the period, "a fearful storm, such as 
had never been seen, burst over Paris. All 
day a heavy, dead heat had stifled respi- 
ration. Gloomy clouds, marbled, towards 
evening, with sinister-looking streaks, had 
appeared to engulf the sun in a suspended 
ocean. Towards ten o'clock the electricity 



312 



The Sign of the Cross. 



discharged itself by thousands of flashes 
of lightning, like luminous palpitations of 
the heavens. The winds, imprisoned be- 
hind that ridge of clouds, burst forth, roaring 
like the waves, bending the harvests, break- 
ing the branches of the trees, and carrying 
away roofs of dwellings. The rain and hail 
rang on the ground as if the earth were 
being- stoned from above. The houses w r ere 
closed, the streets and roads deserted in an 
instant. The lightning, which, during eight 
successive hours, did not cease to flash and 
strike, killed a great number of those men 
and women w T ho came during- the night to 
provision Paris. Some of the sentinels were 
found struck amidst the ashes of their sentry 
boxes. Iron gates, twisted by the wind and 
the fire of heaven, were torn from the walls 
to which they had been fastened by hinges, 
and carried to an incredible distance. Mont- 
martre and Mont Valerien, the two natural 
domes w 7 hich rise above the horizon of the 
suburbs of Paris, discharged in greater sur- 
face the fluid accumulated in the clouds 
which enveloped them. The lightning, 
attacking by preference all those monu- 
ments standing alone or crowned with iron, 
threw down all the crosses erected in the 



In the Nineteenth Century. 313 

country, on the roads and cross-roads, 
from the plain of Issy to the woods of St. 
Germain and Versailles, even to the cross 
of the bridge of Charenton. The next day 
the limbs of those crosses were everywhere 
scattered over the ground, as if an invisible 
army had, in its passage, overthrown all the 
repudiated signs of Christian worship" 

There is no more chance in the moral 
order than there are leaps in nature. The 
facts I have just related, have then a signifi- 
cation. Now, the circumstances which have 
accompanied and followed them, prove evi- 
dently, the cause of the existence or non- 
existence of the Sign of the Cross in a coun- 
try. They also prove to nations, provinces, 
cities, countries, and men, whoever they may 
be, how much it imports them to preserve, 
multiply, and honor that sign, the protector 
of the whole creation. 

To make the Sign of the Cross frequently, 
is the second practical consequence of the 
judgment rendered. And why should we 
not make it? Why not, each one, as far as 
he is concerned, return to the practice of our 
forefathers ? They did not believe them- 
selves secure even for an instant, even in 
the most ordinary actions of life, if they were 



3 1 4 The Sign of the Cross 



not protected by the salutary sign. Are we 
stronger than they? Are our temptations 
less numerous, less active? our dangers less 
pressing? our obligations less serious? 

Every time that our fathers went out of 
their dwellings, their eyes were offended by 
the sight of statues, pictures, obscene objects, 
customs, and feasts, wherein the Spirit of 
evil appeared on all sides. What discourses, 
what conversations, what songs fell on their 
chaste ears! Under every form the most 
seductive, the sensualism and naturalism of 
ideas and morals, both public and private, 
were a permanent conspiracy against the 
supernaturalism of their life, against their 
spirit of mortification, simplicity, poverty, and 
detachment. Moreover, they had to defend 
their faith against the sarcasms, the contempt, 
and the sophisms of nations and of pagan 
philosophy. They had to answer for it before 
judges, and attest it in amphitheatres. 

In order to preserve themselves amidst so 
many perils, what was their secret? The 
Sign of the Cross, always the Sign of the 
Cross, And we Catholics of the nineteenth 
century, what is our condition? Has not 
every thing, or nearly everything that sur- 
rounds us again become pagan? Where 



In the Nineteenth Century. 315 



shall we find one word of the Gospel in the 
greater number of men and things? Are 
not the cities of modern Europe like those 
of former times, filled with statues, paintings, 
engravings, and objects capable of enkind- 
ling in the most frigid souls the impure fires 
of concupiscence? 

In streets, in parlors, and in daily lectures, 
what strikes upon our ears? What does the 
modern world need, to be entirely pagan in 
the luxury of its table, furniture, lodging, 
garments and enjoyments? Slavery and 
wealth. The instincts are the same as in the 
days of the Caesars ! Is not such a spectacle 
a continual snare? Woe to him who does 
not see it! Woe, above all, to him who does 
not watch daily over his heart and senses! 

If it be difficult to defend our morals, what 
a war must we sustain in order to preserve 
our faith ! Do we not live in a time in which 
false ideas, lies and sophisms, as numerous 
as the atoms of the air, are current in society. 
Everywhere are the amphitheatres in which 
we must combat for the Church, for our 
belief, our traditions, our customs, for Chris- 
tian supernaturalism. The arena is never 
closed; one combat is no sooner ended than 
another begins. 



316 The Sign of the Cross 



Placed in a like condition with us, the early- 
Christians were acquainted with a weapon, 
victorious, universal, and familiar to all, of 
which they made constant use ; it was the 
Sign of the Cross. Have we a better? Ah, 
if ever it was necessary to make the protect- 
ing sign upon ourselves and creatures, it is 
to-day. What prevents us from imitating our 
ancestors? How can it be incompatible with 
our occupations to make the Sign of the 
Cross on the heart, or, after the ancient 
manner, on the forehead with the thumb, or 
on the mouth with the thumb and the index ? 
If we be vanquished, whose will be the fault? 
Perditio tua ex te Israel! 

To make the Sign of the Cross well, is the 
third application of the sentence pronounced. 
Regularity, respect, attention, confidence, and 
devotion should accompany our hand when it 
forms the adorable sig-n. 

Regularity. It requires that the Sign of 
the Cross, in its perfect form, be made accord- 
ing to the traditional law, that is to say, with 
the right hand and not the left; by slowly 
carrying the hand from the forehead to the 
breast, from the breast to the left shoulder, 
and then to the right, while pronouncing the 
name of the three persons of the august 



Iii the Nineteenth Century. 317 



Trinity.* Nothing of this is arbitrary. If 
they were to come forth from their tombs, it 
is thus the Christians of the apostolical times 
would make the Sign of the Cross. Let us 
hear an eye-witness. 

"We make the Sign of the Cross with the 
right hand over the catechumens," says St. 
Justin, " because the right hand is accounted 
more noble than the left, although it differs 
from it only in position, and not in its nature ; 
thus we pray turned toward the east, as 
being the most noble part of creation. From 
whom did the Church receive this manner of 
prayer? From those who taught her to pray; 
from the Apostles. "f 

We have a curious passage from St. Au- 
gustin on the dignity of the right hand. "Do 
you not reprove," says he, "him who eats 
with the left hand ? If you look on the guest 
who eats with the left hand as offering an 
insult to your table, why should it not be an 
insult to the divine table, to make with the 
left hand what should be made with the right, 
and with the right what should be made with 
the left."! St. Gregory adds: "Such is the 
manner of speaking among men; we call 

* Navarr.j Comment, de Orat. et horis canon, c. xix ; n. 200. 
f Quaest. xviii. J I» Psal. 136. 



3i8 



The Sign of the Cross 



noble and precious what is at the right, less 
precious, less noble what is at the left."* 

As to the words which accompany the move- 
ment of the hand, they, also, are of apostolic 
tradition. 44 Over all that you meet," says 
St. Ephrem, "make the Sign of the Cross, 
in the name of the Father, and of the Son, 
and of the Holy Ghost."t 

And Tertullian: " Faith is signed in the 
Father, and in the Son, and in the Holy 
Ghost/'J 

And St. Alexander, soldier and martyr 
under Maximian, on being condemned to 
death, turned toward the east, made the 
Siom of the Cross three times over his 
body and said: "Glory be to thee, O God 
of our fathers, Father and Son and Holy 
Ghost."§ 

However, the form which I have just 
described was less in use among the primitive 
Christians than it is amony us. Their ordi- 
narv way was to make the Sign of the Cross 
with the thumb on the forehead : Frontcm 
cruris signaculo terimus. This was because 
of their fear of betraying themselves, and 
also on account of the incessant repetition 



* Moral., lib. xx. c. IS. 
% De Baptism, c. vi, 



f De panoplia. 

| Apud Sur. S[ay 13. 



In the Nineteenth Century, 319 



of the adorable sign. Such is still the form 
most frequently employed in Spain and many 
other countries.* 

But why on the forehead rather than on 
the heart? Herein, my dear Frederic, as in 
all that is ancient there are great mysteries. 
I count five. The first, the honor of the 
Divine Crucified. "It is not without reason,"' 
savs St. Aupfustin, "that the Incarnate Word 
has wished that His divine sign should be 
marked on our forehead. The forehead is 
the seat of modesty, and He wishes the 
Christian not to blush at the opprobrium of 
his Master. If, then, you make it in the 
presence of men, and are not at it, count on 
the divine mercy/'f 

The second, the honor of our forehead. 
"The Sign of the Cross," says Tertullian, 
"is the sign of foreheads, signaculum front- 
ium?% And St, Augustin : kl A forehead 
without the Sign of the Cross is a head 

* There are two ways of holding the hand in making the 
Sign of the Cross. The first consists in extending the first 
three fingers, and closing the other two. This manner, 
which distinctly expresses the mystery of the Holy Trinity, 
was still much used in the thirteenth century. The second, 
consists in extending the rive fingers, which recalls the five 
wounds of our Lord. At present this is alone in use in the 
Church of the West. 

j In Ps. 30. Enarr iy. n. 3, % Col far. Marcian. lib. v. 



320 



The Sign of the Cross 



without hair. The bald head is a subject 
of shame and derision. It is the same with 
the forehead unornamented with the Sign of 
the Cross. Such a forehead is impudent. 
Have you ever heard one man insulting 
another? He says to him 1 : You have no 
forehead ;' Vans naves pas de front. What 
does this mean That he is impudent. May 
God preserve me from having a naked fore- 
head : may the cross of my Master ornament 
and cover it."* 

The third, the miracle of the Redemption. 
The Sign of the Cross is a trophy. Trophies 
are not placed in obscure corners,, but in 
public places, where everybody can see them, 
and in seeing them be reminded of the tri- 
umphs of the conqueror. "Why then," cries 
out the great Augfustin, "should not the 
Divine Word place on the forehead of man, 
on the most visible and noble of his mem- 
bers, the sign of victory won by the cross 
over the infernal powers.""]* 

Bypassing from places of execution to the 
brow of emperors., it was meet that the cross 
should eternally proclaim the great miracle 
of the conversion of the world. 

The fourth, the divine propriety Reenter- 

* In Ps. 131. f I n Joan., Pract. sxsvi. 



In the Nineteenth Century. 321 

ing into possession of man, the Divine Cruci- 
fied has marked him with his seal, as the 
proprietor marks those things that belong 
to him. 

"As soon as the Redeemer had restored 
man to his liberty," says St. Csesarius of 
Aries, "He marked him with His sign. This 
Sign is the Cross. Engraved on the doors 

o o 

of palaces, we bear it on our forehead. It is 
the Conqueror who places it there, that all 
may know He has reentered into possession 
of us, and that we are His palaces, His liv- 
ing temples. The demon also, jealous and 
furious, continually prowls around, seeking 
to rob us of the sign of our freedom, the 
charter of our liberty."* 

The fifth, the dignity of man. The fore- 
head is the noblest part of the body; it is, 
as it were, the seat of the soul. Whoever is 
master of the head is master of the man. 
Hence, of all parts of the human body, the 
forehead is that which the demon tries most 
furiously to deform. The deformation of this 
organ by artificial compression has been 
practised all over the world; in many coun- 
tries it still exists. To disfigure the image 
of God, to enfeeble the intellectual faculties, 



* Homil. y. de pascha. 



322 The Sign of the Cross 



to develop the basest instincts ; such are the 
established results of this deformation, hu- 
manly inexplicable. Our Lord, the Repairer 
of all things, wished that the Sign of the Cross 
should, by preference, be marked on the fore- 
head, in order to deliver it, and in delivering 
it, to restore to man, with the plenitude of 
his faculties, all the dignity of his being. 

Respect is another condition required to 
make the Sign of the Cross well. Respect, 
because it is an act of religion, venerable for 
four reasons ; for its origin, for its antiquity, 
for the use which has been made of it by the 
greatest and holiest men the w r orld has ever 
seen, the apostles, martyrs and true Catholics 
of the primitive Church and of every age; 
and for the glory w T ith which it shall shine on 
the last day, when, announcing the coming 
of the Sovereign Judge, it shall appear in the 
clouds, brilliant with light, and be placed w r ith 
dignity beside the supreme tribunal, for the 
consolation of the just, and the eternal con- 
fusion of the wicked. 

With attention ; without this, the redeem- 
ing sign is no more than a mechanical move- 
ment, too often useless to ourselves, and 
perhaps injurious to Him, whose majesty, love 
and benefits it recalls. 



In the Nineteenth Century. 323 

With confidence ; but a confidence filial, 
lively, strong, founded on the testimony of 
ages, on the practice of the Church, and the 
marvellous effects produced by this sign, 
formidable to the demon, and the liberator 
of man and the world. 

With devotion ; which places the heart in 
union with the lips. In making the Sign of 
the Cross what do I do? I proclaim myself 
the disciple, the brother, the friend, the child 
of a crucified God. Under pain of lying to 
to myself and to God, I must be all that I 
say. 

Listen to our forefathers. ''When you 
sign yourself, think of all the mysteries con- 
tained in the Cross. It is not enough to form 
it simply with the finger; it is necessary first 
to make it with faith and good-will. . . When 
you mark your breast, your eyes, and all 
your members with the Sign of the Cross, 
offer yourself as a victim pleasing to God. . . 
If in marking yourself with the Sign of 
the Cross, you proclaim yourself a Christian 
soldier, yet, at the same time do not practise 
according to your ability, either charity, jus- 
tice, or chastity, the Sign of the Cross avails 
you nothing. The Sign of the Cross is a 
great thing; it should be employed to mark 



324 The Sign of the Cross 



only great and precious things. What use 
would it be to set a golden seal on hay or 
mud? What signifies the Sign of the Cross 
on the forehead and lips, if the soul be inte- 
riorly filled with crimes and stains?"* 

"To make the Sign of the Cross, and yet 
sin, what is this to do ? It is to place the 
sign of life on the mouth, and to plunge the 
poniard into the heart."f 

Hence the proverb of the primitive Chris- 
tians : " Brothers, have Jesus Christ in the 
heart, and his sign on the forehead: Habete 
Christum in cordibus et signum ejus in fronti- 
bus"% 

Hence, also, the saying of St. Augustin: 
"God asks not for painters, but for operators 
of His mysteries. If you bear on your fore- 
head the sign of the humility of Jesus Christ, 
bear in your heart the imitation of the 
humility of Jesus Christ."§ 

We have every reason to act thus. Let 
no one say: "To make the Sign of the Cross, 
either well or ill, is of little importance." 
Christian ages have taught differently, so 

* S. Chrys. Homil. 55, in Matth. S. Ephr., De adorat. vivif. 
cruc. S. Aug., Serm., 215, de Temp. — Signum maximum 
atque sublime. Lact. div. instit. lib. iv. c. 26. 

t S. Caes. Serm. 278., inter Augustin. 

t Bed., t. ill, in eollact. flor et parab. | S. Aug., Ser. 32. 



In the Nineteenth Century. 325 

also has the Catholic Church, the Mistress 
of truth, so also has the Truth in person. 
Admitting- even that the Sign of the Cross 
is of little importance, has not the Incarnate 
Word said: "He that is faithful in little 
things will be faithful in great ; as he who is 
unfaithful in little things will be unfaithful in 
great?" 

Is it not this daily fidelity which forms the 
Christian life and prepares the eternal recom- 
pense ? In the affair of salvation as in all 
other affairs, that which suffices is not suffi- 
cient. He who wishes to do only what is 
necessary, will not do even that for very 
long. 

Ten times a day I make the Sign of the 
Cross. If it is well made, behold ten more 
good works, ten more degrees of glory and 
happiness for all eternity. Behold ten more 
pieces of money to pay my debts, or those 
of my brethren on earth or in purgatory, ten 
more instances to obtain the conversion of 
sinners and the perseverance of the just ; to 
free the world and creatures from diseases, 
dangers and scourges. Compute the sum 
of merits accumulated at the end of a week, 
a year, a life-time of fifty years. And yet 
you say that this is of little importance! 

28 



326 



The Sign of the Cross 



You now know, dear Frederic, the Sign 
of the Cross, and the manner of making it. 
Let me confide to you an ambitious thought: 

J o 

Suppose a stranger arrives in Paris, and asks 
which is the young man, who, among all in 
this vast capital, makes the Sign of the Cross 
best. I wish that you might be named. At 
this price, I promise you a life worthy our 
ancestors of the primitive Church, a death 
precious before God, and, perhaps, the honors 
of canonization: In hoc vince: By this sign 
thou shall conquer. 

This divine saying is ever ancient, yet 
ever new, for it is the formula of a law. 
Constantine, who first deserved to hear it, 
is the type of man. The great emperor 
was advancing by forced marches to attack 
Maxentius, a dreadful tyrant who was in 
possession of the capital of the world. Sud- 
denly, in calm weather, a little after mid- 
day, there appears in the heavens the Sign 
of the Cross, brilliant with light, and visible 
to Constantine and the whole army, with 
the inscription : By this sign thou shall con- 
quer : In hoc vince. 

The following night, the Son of God 
appears to the emperor, holding in His 
hand the same sign, and commands him 



In the Nineteenth Century. 327 



to make one like it, to be carried in all 
his battles, and to be to him the pledge of 
victory. 

Constantine obeys. The heavenly sign, 
resplendent with gold and precious stones, 
dazzles the eyes of his legions, and becomes 
the celebrated Labarum. Wherever this 
sacred ensign appears, confidence animates 
the soldiers of Constantine, terror seizes 
those of Maxentius. The Roman eagles fly 
before the cross, paganism, before Chris- 
tianity; Satan, the ancient tyrant of Rome 
and the world, before jesus Christ, the 
Saviour of Rome and the world. And thus 
it should be. 

-Maxentius being defeated and drowned, 
Constantine enters into Rome. A statue is 
erected, representing him holding the cross 
in his hand, with the following inscription 
dictated by himself: "It is by this salu- 
tary sign, the true emblem of strength, that 
I have delivered vour city from the voke of 
tyranny, and that, giving liberty to the 
Senate and Roman people, I have reestab- 
lished them in their ancient majesty and 
splendor."* 

Constantine represents you, me, every 



* Euseb.j \ it Constant., lib. c. 33, 



328 



The Sign of the Cross 



baptized soul, the whole Christian world. 
Thrown into the arena of life, we march 
at the head of our senses and faculties, to 
attack a tyrant far more dangerous than 
Maxentius. Our Rome is heaven; he tries 
to prevent our entrance into it. He advances 
against us at the head of his infernal legions. 
The combat is inevitable. God gives us the 
same means of conquering that He gave to 
the son of Constantius; the Sign of the Cross; 
In hoc vince. Now, as formerly, this sign is 
the terror of demons, formido dczmonwn. Let 
us make it w T ith faith, and the way to the 
eternal City shall be opened to us. Conque- 
rors, and conquerors for ever, our gratitude 
will erect in the sight of the angels and the 
elect, a statue bearing Constantine's inscrip- 
tion : 

"It is by this sign, the true emblem of 
strength, that I have vanquished the demon, 
delivered my soul and body from his tyranny, 
and that, by giving to my senses, faculties, 
and entire being, their true liberty, I have 
established them for all eternity in the splen- 
dors of unlimited, unalloyed glory: In hoc 
vince!' 

Hail, then, I will say, borrowing the lan- 
guage of the Fathers and Doctors of the 



Iii the Nineteenth Century, 329 



East and the West — "Hail, Sign of the Cross, 
Standard of the great King, immortal trophy 
of the Lord, sign of life, sign of salvation, 
sign of benediction, terror of Satan and the 
infernal legions, impregnable rampart, im- 
penetrable buckler, invincible armor, royal 
sword, honor of the forehead, hope of Chris- 
tians, remedy of the sick, resurrection of the 
dead, guide of the blind, support of the feeble, 
consolation of the poor, joy of the good, 
dread of the wicked, check to the rich, ruin 
of the proud, judge of the unjust, liberty 
of slaves, glory of martyrs, chastity of vir- 
gins, virtue of the saints, foundation of the 
Church!"* 

You now have, dear Frederic, my answer 
to your two questions. 

The authority of all ages resolves them 
in your favor. This triumphant apology for 
your noble conduct, will, I hope, arm you 
forever against mockeries and sophisms. 

On one side, you know how important, 
and how solidly established is the habitual 
practice of the Sign of the Cross; and, on 
the other, you have the means of apprecia- 
ting, at its just value, the intelligence of those 
who do not make it, as also of esteeming as 



* Gretzer, lib. iv, c. C-4. etc. 



330 The Sign of the Cross. 

it merits, the character of those who are 
ashamed to make it. In hoc vince. 



May this work be to all who read it, a 
fruitful source of the blessings promised 
herein. 

The Translator. 



CATHOLIC BOOKS 



PUBLISHED BT 



PETER F. CUNNINGHAM, 

216 South Third Street, Philadelphia. 



The 



T 



^1 

ailiolic J>oetrine as Hefined hj tlie Council 
of Trent : 

Expounded in a series of Conferences delivered in Geneva Bv 
I*ev. A. Nampon, S. J.,the most complete work on Catholic Doc» 
trine yet published in the English Language; approved bv i ! > 
Bishop ot Philadelphia, the Arch-bishops of Baltimore, New'Yt rk 
aoi! Cincinnati. 1vol. octavo, of 730 pages, splendidly bound in 
clmh $3 50 

Celebrated Sanctuaries of the Ma- 
donna. 

By Rev. J. Spencer Northcoate, D.D. Published with the approbation of the 
Right Rev. James Frederick Weed, Bishop of Philadelphia. 1 vol., 12mo. 

Priee — Cloth, extra beveled „ $1 50 

Cloth, gilt edge , 2 00 

lie Year of JIary; or 3 Tlie True Servant of 
tiie BIes§ed Virgin. 

Translated from the French of Eev. M. D'Arrille, Apostolic Prothoaotary, 
and published with the approbation of the Eight Rev. Bishop of Phila- 
delphia, the Most Rev. Archbishop of Baltimore, and the Most Rev. Arch- 
bishop of New York. 1 neat 12mo volume. 

Price— In cloth $1.50 

In gilt edges 2.00 

This is a delightful book; brimful of swee: flowers; a lovely garland in 
hoaor of Marv our Mother and powerful intercessor before the throne of her 
Son. 

Well has the Magnificat said, "ail generations »\all call me blessed;'' all 
times, and in all lands, wherever the symbol, upon which her D'vine Son 
l ansomed a wicked and undeserving world with his excruciating sufferings and. 
death has a votary, her name, spotless and beautiful, shall be pronounced with 
reverence, and her protection implored. 

The tome before u? is a collection of the honors paid to Marv bv the s-reat 
•3d good of all lands*, by those who, with the diadem of earthly grandeur 
adorning their brows, and vexed political commonwealths to guard and pac'fy, 
found rime to honor the daughter of St. Anne, the beloved Mother of our Lord 
and Saviour. 

Buy the book. Eead one or two pages. We promise a feast, a desire to read 
the whole, a determination to do so. — Cat U Ho Telegraph. 

This work is divided into seventy-twc Exercises, corresponding wich tai 
& amber of » ears which the Blessel Virgin passed on earth, with a coniecratioa 

(3) 



4 



Published by Peter F. Cunningham, 



to Mary of the twelve months of the year, in reference to her virtues ; also a 

method of using certain of the Exercises by a way of devotion for the "M)iiiii 
of Mary," a Novena in honor of the Immaculate Conception, and other matters 
both interesting and advantageous to the true servant of Mary, and those vf h« 
frould become so. 

44 Baltimore, April 6, ISSo. 

"We willingly unite with the Ordinary of Philadelphia and the Metropolitan 
ef New York in* approving 'The Year of Mary,' republished by Peter JF. Cun- 
ningham, of Philadelphia. 

"M. J. SPALD1XG, 

' ' Archbishop of Ba It imor^. ' ' 

A work presented to the Catholics with such recommendations does not need 
any woid of encouragement from us.— Pilot. 

This work meets a want long ungratified. The devotional Exercises which 
make up the book are ingeniously arranged in reference. 1st. to each year of the 
Blessed Virgin's long residence on earth ; 2d, to every Snaday and festival 
throughout the year. The Exercises are therefore seventy-two in number, cor- 
responding to the generally received belief of the duration of her terrestrial life. 

The First Exercise is thus appropriated to the Immaculate Conception, aud 
may be used both for the Sth of December and for the first day of the year. 
The seventy-second celebrates the Assumption, and may be profitably read on 
the 15:h of August, and on the last day of the year. 

Each Instruction is prefaced by a text from holy writ, and followed by an 
example, a historical fact, a practice and a prayer. 

The Approbations are: 

1st. By the Roman Theological Censor. 

2d. By a favorable letter from his Holiness Gregory XVI. 

3d. By the recommendatory signatures of the Archbishops of Baltimore and 
New York, and the Bishop of Philadelphia. 

This Devotional is a deeply interesting and practical manual, and Mrs. Sadlier, 
who has very skilfully reduced the originally free translation into graceful con- 
formity to the original, has rendered the Christian public a most essential ser- 
vice. We wish it the widest circulation. — N. Y. Tablet. 

"The Year of Mary'' is one of the most beautiful tributes to the Mother of 
God that a Catholic family could desire to have. We are free, however, to 
confess our partiality in noticing any 'book that treats of the pre-eminent glory 
of her whom God exalted above all created beings. 

But, independently of this consideration, the present volume can be recom- 
mended on its own special merits. Besides being replete with spiritual instruc- 
tion, it presents a detailed account of the life of the Blessed Virgin from the 
Conception to the Assumption, and views her under every possible aspect, both 
8s regards herself and her relations with man. It lays down the rules by 
which we are to be guided in our practical devotions towards her ; displays ita 
genuine characteristics, and indicates the sublime sentiments by which we 
ought to be actuated when we pay her our homage, or invoke her assistance. 

''The Year of Mary" contains seventy-two Exercises, in accordance with the 
received opinion of the Church that the Blessed Virgin lived that number of 
years on earth. In these instructions, the reader shall learn her life, her pre- 
rogative?, her glory in Heaven, and her boundless goodness to mankind. We 
Would like to see this book in every Catholic family in the country. It is impos- 
sible for us to honor the Mother of God sufficiently well. But in reading this 
book, or any like it, we must ever bear in mind that acts, not mere professions 
of piety, should be the distinctive marks of "the true servant of the Blessed 
Virgin," and that she is really honored, only in so far as we imitate her virtues 
for the sake of Him through whom alone we can hope for eternal life. 

The name of Mrs. Sadlier is familiar to the public ; her talents as an authoress 
are too well known to need any eulogy here ; she is an accomplished lady, aud 
has faithful y done her part. As to the publisher, Mr. Cunningham, we say, 
without flattery, tnat he has done a good work in presenting this excellent 
book to his fellow-Catholics, and with all. our heart we wish him the fullest 
Bieasure of success to which this noble enterprit* mt^les him.-- T'ie Monthly 



216 South Third Street, Philadelphia, 5 



J^JLediiatloiis of St. Ignatius ; or, Tlie Spiri- 
tual Exercises 55 expounded^ 
By Father Siniscalehi, of the Society of Jesus. 

JNblished with tne approbation of the Bight Rev. Bis\op of Philadelphia* 
k 4 0l. 12mo. 

Price— Neatly bound in cloth, gilt back — « $1.53 

The f<wie of the great founder of the Society of Jesus, would itself insure the 
cliarac^ of the above book of meditations, as one of the most meritorious k: nd. 
But thw greater part of Catholics of all nations have been made familiar with 
the nature, object, and efficiency of these meditations in the Spiritual Retreats 
conducted by th.3 Fathers of this Society, in every language, in every country, 
and alu>ost every town of Christendom. We are glad to see this valuable work 
published in our country and tongue, and feel assured it will be heartily 
welcom°d by the multitudes who are familiar with it, if in no other way, at 
least from the free use which is made of it in the Jesuit Missions, forming, 
as it **oes, the basis of all those inspiriting exercises which constitute a 
spiritual retreat. — Catholic Mirror. 

Thia is the first American edition of this celebrated work, which has been 
translated into nearly all the European languages. It suppLies a want long 
felt in America. It is an excellent book of Meditations for the family, but it is 
particularly adapted for those attending Retreats or Missions, especially those 
given by the Jesuits, whose method this is. We cannot too strongly recommend 
this book to the Catholic public— New York Tabht. 

This is a timely publication of the Meditations of St. Ignatius, and the Catholic 
community are indebted to the Philadelphia publisher for bringing the work 
within their roach. In Europe, where it is well known, it would be superfluous 
to do more than call attention to the fact of a new edition being published ; but 
inasmuch as American Catholics have not had an opportunity of becoming very 
familiar with the work, it may not be out of place to say a few words concern- 
ing it. 

The Meditations are twenty-two in number, each divided into three parts, and 
in each division the subject is viewed, as it were, from a different point of view, 
the last being always the most striking. Death, Judgment, Hell, and Heaven, 
the Mysteries of the Saviour's Life, and the Happiness of Divine Love — theso 
are the subjects of the Saint's meditations, and every consideration germain to 
such topics calculated to excite the feelings or influence the judgment, is brought 
before the reader in simple, forcible language, or impressed on the mind by 
means of a striking anecdote or opposite illustration. The volume is thickly 
strewn with quotations from sacred and patritic writings, and the whole range 
of profane history is laid under contribution to furnish material wherewith to 
point a moral or enforce a truth. 

No Catholic family should be without this book, and no Catholic library 
should be depending on one copy. It is a noble edition to the ever-increasing' 
stock of Catholic devotional literature, and we hope the publisher's judicious 
feature wvl be successful. We must not omit to mention that the publication 
has received the official sanc'f on of the Right Rev. Bishop of Philadelphia.-- 
Metropolitan Record. 



F^acerdos Saractilicatus ; or, Discourses ©a 
tlie Mass and Office, 

With a Preparation and Thanksgiving before and after Mass for every 
aay in the week Translated from the Italian of St. Alphonsus Ligouri, 
By the Bev. James J ones. 

1 vol. 18mo. 

Price— Neatly bound in c sth, , 8©3ts. 



Published b} Peter F. Cunnirigliam. 



T 



T 



he Mfe of St. Teresa. 

Written by herself. 

Translated from the Spanisi by EeT. Canon DaUon. and publifh* tr m 

the approbation of the Rijht R**. Bishop of Philadelphia. 
12mo. , neatly bound in cloth. 

Jr rice— In cloth JLSH 

In clcth, gilt edge 2. CO 

lie Life of St. Catherine of Sienna. 

By Blessed Raymond of Capua, her Confessor. 

Translated from the French, by the Ladies of the Sacred Heart. Witk 
the approbation of tne Eight Rev. Bishop of Philadelphia. 1 vol. 
12mo., nea;Iv boand in cloth. 

Price— In cloth $1.50 

In cloth, gilt edge 2.00 

ife of St. Jlargaret of Cortona. 

Translated from the Italian, by John Gilmary Shea, and published with 
the approbation of the Right Rev. Bishop of Philadelphia. 1 vol. ] 6mo., 
neativ bound in cloth, gilt backs. 

'Price SL.00 

lie Life of St. Angela 3Ierici of Brescia, 
Foundress of tiie Order of St. Ursula. 

By the Abbe Parenty. 

With a History of the Order in Ireland. Canada and the United States, 
by John Gilmary Shea. Published w ; th the approbation of the Right 
Rev. Bishop of Philadelphia. 1 vol. 16mo., cloth, erilt back. 

Price - $i.co 

he Life of Blessed Mary Ann of Jesus 5 

de Parades y Flores. "The Lily of Quito." 
By Father Joseph Boero, S.J. 

Translated from the Italian by a Path rr :•: the Society :? lesns, and ptiV 
lished Willi the approbation of the Right Rev. Bishop of PhiKuUiphi*. 
1 vol. lomo., neatly bound in cloth, gilt back. 

Price . fUN) 



he Life of St. Hose of Lima. 

E,} : terl br r he Rev Frederick William Faber. D D.. and pablished with 
the approbation o the Sight R v Bishop of Ph iladelphia. 1 vol., livrga 

iem ° Prlee^Waiy ..!*."« ~ f ' &-0u 



216 Sooth Third Street, Philadelphia. 



7 




lie Life of St. Cecilia 



Virgin and Martyr. 



Translated frcm the French of Father Gueranger, and published with 
approbation of the Right Rev. Bishop of Philadelphia. 
1 ?ol. 12mo. 



The above is one of the most interesting works which has been i-sued for come 
time from the Catholic press in this country. The life ana martyrdom of Taint 
Ceciiia, is itself, one of the most beautiful chapters in the his:ory of the Churcn. 
The acc .unt of it by Gueranger is most touching. It combines all the spright- 
liness >.f romance, with tne solid truth of history. The author is one of the 
most learned a: cheeologists that has appeared in this century, and is well knows 
for many learned works. In connection with the life of Sc. Cecilia, he gives a 
graphic account of the state of the Churcn at the time of the persecutions'unoei 
the Roman Emperors. There is a beautiiui description of the catacombs and of 
the usages of the Christains ia paying honor to the martyrs. In reading his work 
we seem to be transferred to tneir nays. The character of St. Cecilia is drawt 
out in the most vivid colors, though the account is almost entirely taken fro is 
the ancient. Acts, the authenticity of which is abry vindicated by tho learned 
author. He then gives an account of the Church, built at her own request od 
the spot wnere she suffered. This goes over a period of over sixteen hundred 
years. It has oeen, du ring ail that time, one of the most clearly cherished sanctu- 
aries of Rome. The ineioental accounts of various matters connected with the 
history of the Saint and her Church, are themselves sufficient to give great inter* 
est to the volume, we hardly know which to admire most in this work— the 
information imparted on many most imeresting topic>, the nealthy tone of the 
work, so well calculated to enliven faith, and cherish a devout spirit, or the 
beauty of the style of the author who nas weaved the wh'.ie into s i interesting 
a narrative, that no romance can vie with mis truthful account of tho patroness 
of song. — Baltimore Catholic Mirror. 

We are glad to see that the American public have been favored with this very 
interesting work. Whiie the name of the author is a guarantee for historical 
accuracy, and learned research, the period of which it treats is one of great in- 
terest to the Catholic. In these pastes one can learn the manners and customs of 
the eariy Christians, and their sufferings, and gain no little insight into their 
daily life. The devotion to the Saints is becoming daily more practical, and we 
are glao to see revived the memory of the ancient heroes and heioines whom the 
Church has honored in a special manner. The mechanical execution of the 
American eoition is very goou. — Catholic Standard. 

We cannot sufficiently admire ana commend to the attention of our readers, 
young and old, this delightful work. The tenderness and exquisite refinement 
and purity wnich surround, like a veil, the character of tne iove.y St. Cecilia, 
aerve to tnrow into stronger relief the unfaltering courage by which she won tne 
Crown of martyrdom. The author has made use of ali the authentic aud import- 
ant detafs connected with the life ana death of the Saim, following the most 
approved authorities. The discoveries of her tomb in the ninth and sixteenth 
aenturies form not the least interesting portion of the work, and the description 
of the churcn, which was once ner dweuing and the witness of her sufferings and 
triumphs, brings those scenes so vividly before us that Cecilia seem? to belong 
as much to our own day as to tke period when youpg, beautiful, wealthy and 
accompiished. the virgin bride of the nob*e Valerias laid down her life for thl 
martyr's crrwa of faitl — X. Y. Tabiet. 



Price — In cloth 



In cloch, gilt edge. 



*1 >C 

. 2.(X 



8 



Published by Peter F, Cunningham, 



Mj* Cunningham, of Philadelphia, has earned a new claim on our gratitude t>» 
publisning the LIFE OF SAINT CECILIA, VlUulN AND MARTYR. Iha 
Acts of' her martyrdom are a monument of the wonderful ways of God, and > *nost 
sweet record of Cnristian heroism, heavenly love, and prodigious consiancy. 
Her ver.y name has inspired Christianity for fifteen centuries, with courag-*, and 
the noblest aspirations. The work is a translation from the French of Prosper 
&ueranger. We have had only time to read the title, preface, and a few oagei 
before going to press. But we can say this much, that it was * very happy 
thought to undertake this translation, and we know of no other book w* should 
like to see in tne handa of Catholics so much as the LIFE OF SAINT CECILIA. 
VIRGIN AND MARTYR.— Boston Picot. 

Mr. Peter F. Cunningham has just brought out, in very a-imirable style, the 
1 Life of St. Cecilia," from the Fiench of the celebrated bum. Guerangtr. It 
is difficult to finu a more delightful volume than this. lu subject is ewe of 
lh*» most attractive in ail the annals of the Church ; and i:s au.hor one » f the 
most pious and gifted of modern French writers: the result is one of the most 
charming contributions ever made to Catholic literature. As intimated the 
publisher has done his part in printing, in paper, and in bindiDg, We n turn 
him thanks for a copy.— Philadelphia Universe, Oct. 6. 

This is a most interesting volume, truer than history and stranger than fic- 
tion. The author does not oonfine himself to the details of the faint's life and 
martyrdom, but describes, with the faithfulness and minuteness of an antiquary, 
the wonders of Imperial and Christian Rome--the catacombs, the basilicas, the 
manners of the times, the persecutions of the Christians, etc. The book is 
handsomely got up, and enriched with a portrait of fct. Cecilia seated at her 
harp. — N. Y. Met Record. 

We have received this beautiful and very interesting life of one of the most 
beautiful Saints of the Church Tne reading public ought to be much obliged 
to the Publisher for giving them such a work. It abounds in the sublimest 
sentiments of divine love and human devotion, such as Catholics would expect 
from the life of such a Saint ; and at the same time portrays the combat of rising 
Christianity and decaying paganism in the livelist colors. Such works as tiiia 
form the proper staple of reading for all who desire to become acquainted with 
the period to which it refers, and who cannot afford to purchase or peruse the 
more profound works of our Historians.— Western N. Y. Catholic. 

The name of the learned and religious Abbot of Solesmes Dom. Gueranger, 
was long since maoe familiar and pleasant to us, in the pages of Chevalier 
Bonnetty's learned periodical, the Annates d», Philosophic ChrPtienne, pub- 
lished in Paris. In the pages of his " Life of St. Cecilia" — which we have not 
met with in the French, — we have the same hit^h talent devoted to other than 
litui'gic themes. This is an admirable volume, well translated. The quiet 
style in which the story is told of the great honor with which Catholic ages 
have crowned St. Cecilia, is charming. — Jy . Y. Freeman's Journal. 



ife of St. Agnes of Home, Virgin and Martyr. 

PulAished with the approbation of the Right Rev. Bishop of Philadelphia. 
1 vol. ISmo., neatly bound in cloth, with a beautiful steel plate For. 
trait of the "Youthful Martyr of Rome." 

Price • 50 cents* 

an'§ Contract witli CSod in Baptism, 

Translat?d fr^m the French by Rev. J. M. Cullen, 1 vol., 18a o. 

Price ■ — • t>0 oei^ 



Published by Peter F* Cunningham, g 



Life of St. Aloysitis CSoiezaga, 

©f the Society ©f Jesus. 



Edited by Edward llealy Thompson. Published with tho approbation of thi 
Rl. Rev. Bishop oj Philadelphia. 1 vol., 12mo., neat cloth, beveled, $1.50 
Cloth, Gilt, $2.00. 

4®- This is the best life of the Saint yet published in the English largoag« 
and should be read by both the young and old. 



T 



T 



he Weof St. Stanislas Kostka of tlie Society 
of Jesus. 

B7 Edward Healy Thompson, A.M. 

Published with the approbation of the Right Rev. Bishop of Philadelphia- 

lvol. 12mo. Cloth extra beveled $1.50 

Cloth full edges .....$2.00 

lie Ufe of Blessed Joins Berchmans 

of the Society of Jesus. 

Translated from the French. "With an appendix, giving an account of 
the miracles after death, which have been approved by the Holy 8ee. 
From the Italian of Father Borgo, S. J. Published with the approbation 
of the Right Rev. Bishop 0/ Philadelphia. 1 vol. 12mo. 

Price— In cloth $1.50 

In cloth, gilt edge <2.00 



The Society of Jesus, laboring in all things for the 11 Greater glory of God,'* 
has accomplished, if not more, as much, towards that pious object, as ever did 
any Institution of our holy religion. Actuated by that sublime and single 
motive, it has given the world as brilliant scholars, historians and men of 
science in all departments, as have ever yet adorned its aunals. Nor is this by 
any means its greatest boast ; it is what has been achitred by the Society in the 
advancement of Catholicity and sanetity, that makes the brightest gem in its 
coronet. It is in that, that it is most precious in the sight of the angels of God ; 
it is for that its children will sing with them a new canticle on high. It has 
peopled heaven with a host of sainted choristers, many of them endowed with 
a world-wide fame for sanctity, and many, lik6 Blessed Berchmans, 'inown to 
but few beyond the pale of her order. This saintly youth, like Sc. Aloysi&i 
and St. Stanislaus, died young, but a model of that true wisdom which neve* 
loses sight of the end for which man is created. The work before us beauti- 
fully describes the virtues, and the exemplary life and practices of this piona 
youth ; and is richly entitled to a place 'in every Catholic library.— Catholic 
Mirror. 

Mr. P. F. Cunningham, of Philadelphia, may well rejoice, in his Catholic 
heart, for having given us this work, the perusal of which must needs be the 
iource of immense good. No better work can be placed in the hands of Pwe- 
iigious novices Perhaps no other book has fired those privileged souls with 
more fervid aspirations towards attaining the perfection proper of their reli- 
gious professious. A perfect pattern is placed before them, and whilst th« 
raart s drawn towards it with admiring love, the reader e-ann<t allege any 
honest c^use whereby to excuse himself from following the noble exam phi 
placed before him. Blessed Berchmans teaches, by his own life, that perfec- 
tion is to be attained : n the fa thful and conscientious discharge of the duties 0/ 
one's daily life, whatever its circumstances may be. An excellent, mosr 
•sHeat look this will also prove for sodalists —Boston Pilot. 



10 Published by Peter F. Gaiumgham, 



The Sign of the Cross in the Nineteenth Century. 

£y Mgr. G-aume, Prothonotary Apostolic. 

With the Brief of his Holiness Pope Pius IX. Translated from the French 
bv A Daugtaer of St. Joseph. Published with the approbation of the Riqht Rev. 
Bishop of Philadelphia. 

1 vol. 12mo. Cloth, Extra beveled. Price $1.50 

Gilt edge , , $^,00 

I he Life of St. Augustine, Bishop, Confessor, and 
Doctor of the Church. 

By P. E, Moriarty, D.D., Ex-Assistant General, O. S. A. 

Published with the approbation of the Right Rev. Bishop of Philadel- 
phia. 1 vol. 12rno. 

Cloth, extra beveled, and gilt centre , $1 69 

Cloth, gilt edge . M -j uo 

The Life of St. Charles Borromeo. 

By Edward Healey Thompson. 

Published with the approbation of the Right Rev. Bishop of 
Philadelphia. 1 vol. 12mo. 

Cloth, extra beveled $1 50 

4 4 4< gilt edge 2 CC 



T 



T 



he Sodalist's Friend. A Beautiful Collec- 
tion of Meditations and Prayers. 

Compiled and translated from approved sources, for the use of membert 
aud leaders of confraternities. 1 vol. ISmo., neatly bound. 

Price — In cloth 80 cents. 

Roan embossed $1.00 

Embossed gilt 1.60 

Full gilt edges and sides 2.00 

Turkey, superior extra 3.00 



he Month of the Sacred Heart. 

Arranged for each day of the month of June. Containing also the Arch 
Confraternity of Sacred Heart, and Father Borgo's Novena to the Sacred 
Heart of Jesus. With the approbation of the Right Rev. Bishop cj 
Philadelphia, lneaifol. 2-imc Cloth, gilt back. 

Piine.. «S9 emit* 



216 South Third Street, Philadelphia. 11 



T 



lie Rfontli of SI* Josepb. 

Arranged for each day of the month of March. Frcm the French of tht 
Kev. Father Huguet, of the "Society of St. Mary." Published with the 
approbation of the Right Rev. Bishop of Philadelphia. 1 neat toI. 
18mo. Cloth, gilt back. 

Price 50 cents. 

An attentive perusal ( ( this little work will prove, with a sincere utterance of 
the prayers contained therein, a powerful means to reform one's life. Let us 
secure the friendship and intercession of St. Joseph. He is the foster-father of 
our Saviour. He can say a good word for us, indeed. O, the beauty of Catholic 
devotions ! how its practices, when in direct connection with the life and teach- 
ings of Jesus Christ, fill the soul with happiness and hope! — Boston Pilot. 

This will be found to be an interesting book to all the children of Mary, and 
the lovers of her pure, saintly, and glorious spouse, Sr. Joseph. It is a good 
companion to the lovely "Mouth of May." — New York Tablet. 

lie Little omces. 

Translated from the French by the Ladies of the Sacred Heart. Contain- 
ing the Little Offices of the Sacred Heart, Holy Ghost, Immaculate Con- 
ception, Our Lady of Seven Dolours, Most Holy Heart of Mary, Holy 
Angel Guardian, St. Joseph, St. Louis de Gonzaga, St. Stanislaus, Si. 
Jude, Apostle. To which is added a Devout Method of Hearing Mass. 
Published with the approbation of the Bight Rev. Bishop of Philadelphia. 
1 vol. ISmo. Neatly bound. 

Price 50 cents. 

lie Religious Soul Elevated to Perfection, 
by tlie Exercises of an Interior Life. 

From the French of the Abbe Baudrand, author of "The Elevation of 
Soul." 1 vol. 18mo. 

Price ~..60 cents, 

a Mere de Oieu. 

A beautiful and very edifying work on the Glories and Virtues of the 
Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God ; from the Italian of Father Alphonae 
Capecelatro, of the Oratory of Naples, with an Introductory Letter of 
Father Gratry, of the Paris Oratory. Published with the approbation of 
the Right Rev. Bishop of Philadelphia. 1 neat vol. 18mo. Cloth. 

Price 50 cents. 

lie Roman Catacombs ; or, Some account 
of tbe Burial Places of tlie Early Chris- 
tians in Rome. 

By Eev. J. Spencer Northcoate, M. A , wi:h Maps and various Illnstra* 
tions. Published with the approbation of the Right Rev Bishop etf Phila- 
delphia. 

1 vol., 16mo., neatly bound in cloth, gih beck. 

F*ica , 



T 



12 Published by Peter F, Cunningham, 
l^etters Addressed to a Protestant Friend, 

By a Catholic Priest With a Preface by the Right Rev. Bishop Becxer. 
1 vol. 12mo. Cloth extra beveled -$1.21 

C3harity and Truth; or, Catliolics not un- 
charitable in saying tiiat None are 
Saved out of the Catholic Church. 

By the Rev. Edward Hawarden. 

Published with the approbation of the Right Rev. Bishop of Philadelphia, 

I TOl. 12lD0. 

Price— Neatly bound in cloth.. $1.25 

Tn this book, the learned and earnest anthor discusses a question of vital im« 
portance to all, viz.: Is there salvation out of the Catholic Communion? At 
the present moment, when the strongest proof of Christianity, in the popular 
opinion, is a belief that every road leads to heaven, and that every man who 
lives a moral life is sure to be saved, the very title of this book* will grate 
harshly on many ears. To such we w^uld say— Read the work, and learn that 
" a charitable judgment may be very unfavorable, and a favorable judgment 
may be very uncharitable " "Charity and Truth" is the work of one of the 
ablest controversialists and most learned theologians of the Catholic Church in 
England. The method adopted in " Charity and^Trulh" is the catechetical, and 
to help the memory the questions are f-et in large characters at the top of each 
page. In the preface, the Reverend reviewer takes up and disposes of six 
vulgar errors, — 1st. That it is charity to suppose all men saved whose life is 
morally honest. 2d. That the infinite goodness of God will not suffer the 
greater part of mankind to perish. 3d. That it is charity to believe the Jews 
and Turks arc saved. 4th. That if I judge more favorably of the salvation of 
another man than he does of mine, I am the more charitable of the two. 5th. 
That, setting all other considerations apart, if Protestants judge more favor- 
ably of the salvation of Catholics than Catholics do of theirs, Protestants are 
on the more charitable side. 6th. That he is uncharitable whoever supposes 
that none are saved in any other religion unless they are excused by invinci- 
ble ignorance.— Met. Record. 

We owe Mr. Cunningham an apology for not having noticed this work ere 
this ; and we should have done it more readily, as we hail with utmost pleasure 
the republication of one of those works written by the uncompromising cham- 
pions of the Church during the hottest days of persecution and Catholic disa- 
bilities in England. We have often wished* that some of the learned professors 
£>f the illustrious College of Georgetown would select from among the numerous 
collection they have of books written by English missionaries during the first 
two centuries of persecution in England, some such work as "Charity and 
Truth," and republish them in this country. These works will not please, of 
course, our milk and water Catholics. But, after all, they are the real kind of 
works we need. It is high time that we should take the aggressive. We have 
put up long enough with Protestant attacks. We owe nothing to Protestants. 
We have allowed them to say all kind of things to us. We have received with 
thanks the benign condescension with which they grant us the merit of there 
being some good people among the Catholics, and that some bishops and priests 
are clever, in spite of their being Catholics. We have bowed so low as to kiss 
the right hand that has patted us on the head, wh:le the left was lifting its 
thumb to the nose of the smiling but double-hearted ca: esser.. It is high time, we 
say, that we should do away with this sycophancy. It is high time that war 
was carried to the heart of the enemy's country. Hence we are thankful to the 
American editor of this work. Let Catholics buy it, read ic, and then give it 
to their Protestant acquaintances.— Boston Pilot. 



CATHOLIC TALES. 



>eech Bluff. A Tale of the South Before the 
War. 

By Fannie Warner. 

lvol. 12 mo. Cloth extra beveled ~ $1.50 

Cloth gilt edge « — ..§2.00 

Fernclifle. 

A Catholic Tale of great merit. 1 volume 12mo. 

Price — Clotb, extra beveled >. $1 50 

Cloth, gilt edges 2 00 



Th 



e Montarg^es Legacy. 



A Charming Catholic Tale, by Florence McCoomb, (Miss Meline, of Washing"* 
tea,) 1 volume, small 12mc. 

Price—Cloth, extia beveled „ $1.00 

Cloth, gilt 1.26 

race Morton ; or. The Inheritance. 

A new and beautiful Catholic tale, written by Miss Meaney of Philadelphia. 
1 vol.. larsre lSino., neativ bound in cloth. 

Price $1.00 

This is a pleasing story, instructive as well as amusing, and worth an espe- 
cial place in the library of youthful Catholics. It depicts with rare skill the 
trials and sacrifices which attend the profession of the true Faith, and which 
are so often exacted of us by the fostering solicitude of our Mother the Church. 
—Catholic Mirror. 

A chastely written Catholic tale of American life, which is most pleasantly 
narrated ; and conveys much that is instructive and elevating. — Irish American. 

he Knout; a Tale of Poland* 

Translated from the French by Mrs. J. Sadlier. 

1 vol., large 18mo. } neatly bound in cloth, gilt back, with frontispiece. 
Price -$1.00 

aura and Anna 5 or> The Effect of Faith on 
the Character. 

A beautiful tale, translated from the French by a young lady, a Graduate 
of St. Joseph's, Emmittsburg. 
1 vol. ISmo., neatly bound in cloth. 

Price • 60 cents. 

lie Confessors of Connaught 5 01^ Tlie Ten- 
ants of a Lord Bishop. 

A tale of Evictions in Ireland. By Miss Meaney, author of '* Grace Mor- 
ton." 

Small 12mo., cloth. 

Price - • $1-00 

Read this bo^k and you will have a feeling knowledge of the sufferings of 
our brethren in the Isle of Saints.— Bcsfon Pilot. 



L 



14 Published by Peter F* Cunningham , 



Hawthorndean ; or, Philip Benton's Family, 

A story of everv-day Life. By Mrs. Clara M. Thompson. 

lvol. 12mo. Cloth. Extra beveled. Price $1.50 

Gilt edge - $2 00 

An interesting story, full of incident and graphic description. . . . Will well 
rep iy perusal.— Catholic Mirror. 

A readable, pleasant, and healthy Catholic tale, containing some good prac~ 
tieal lessons.— -GzrTio/ic Standard. 

Hawthorndean is a well-written domestic tale of American life, and thoush 
not exactly a religious novel, yet thoroughly Catholic in tone,— Catholic Reconi. 

T 

JL he Young Catholic's Library, 

In neat ISmo vols., cloth. 12 vols., $6.00, or 50 cents each. 

The following volumes are now ready. 

THE YOUNG CATHOLIC'S LIBRARY— First Series. 

1. Cottage Evening Tales for Young People. Six Cnarming Talos; 
one for each day of the week. 1 vol. 18mo. Neat Cloth, cO cts. 

2. Children of the Valley ; or, Tho Ghost of the Ruins. A beautiful 
Catholic Tale, from the French. 1 vol. 18mo Neat Cloth, 50 cts. 

3. May Carleton's Story ; or, The Catholic Maiden's Cross. And, The 
Miller's Daughter; or, The Charms of Virtue. Two lovely Tales in 1 
vol. 18mo. Neat Cloth, 50«cts. 

4. Philip Hartley ; or, A Boy's Trials and Triumphs. A Tale by the 
author of "Grace Morton," etc. 1 vol. 18mo. Neat Cloth. 50 cts. 

5. Count Leslie; or, The Triumph of Filial Piety. A Catholic Tale of 
great interest. 1 vol. 18mo. Neat Cloth, 50 cts. 

6. JL Father's Tales, of the French Revolution. Delightful Stories for 
Catholic Youth. First series. 1 vol. 18mo. Neat Cloth. 50 cts. 

7. Ralph Berrien, and other Tales of the French Revolution. Second 
series. 1 vol. 18mo. 60 cts. 

8. Silver Grange. A charming American Catholic Tale. And, Phillip- 
pine; or, The Captive Bride. Eoth in 1 vol. 18mo. 50 cts. 

9. Helena Butler, a Story of the Rosary. 1 vol. 18mo. 60 cts. 

10. Charles and Frederick. A beautiful Story, by Rev. John P 
Donnellon. lvol. 18mo. 50 cts. 

11. The Beauforts, a Story of the Alleghanies. 1 vol. 18mtf. 60 cts. 

12. Lauretta and the Fables, A charming little Book for Young 
People. 1 vol. 18mo. 50 cts. 

THE YOUNG CATHOLIC'S LIBRARY— Second Series. 

/. Conrad and Gertrude, the Little Wanderers. A lovely Swias 
Tale. 1 vol.. 18mo. 50 cts. 

2. Three Petitions, a Tale of Poland. 1 vol., 18mo. 50 cts. 

3. Alice; or, The Kose of the Black Forest A German Story. 1 vol., 
ISrao. 50 cts. 

4. Caroline; or, Self-Conquest 1 voL 13mo. 50 cts. 

5. Tales of the Commandments. "I vol.. 18nio. 50 cts. 

6. The Seven Corporal Works of Mercy. 1 vol., iSma 50 cts. 

7. Elinor Johnson* Founded on Facts, and a beautiful Catholic 
Tale. 1 vol., 18mo. Cloth. 50 cts. 

8. The Queen's Daughter; or, The Orphan of La Granga. 1 vol., 
18mo. 50 cts. 

9. Hetty Homer f or, Tried but True. A charming Tale, by Fannie 

Warner. iO cts. 

10. The Beverly Familt/. Bv Hon. Jos. R. Chandler. 50 cts. 

11. Aunt Fanny's Present; or, Child's Book of Fairy Tales. 50 et* 
Jt%. Woodland $ottaqe % and other Tales. 50 cts. 



216 South Third Street, Philadelphia, 15 



Hawthorndean ; op, Philip Benton's Family. 

A Tale of every day life. 
By Mrs. Clara M. Thompson, 
Author of K Rectory of Morel and" « Chapel of St Mary," aJc. 

lvol. 12mo. Cloth, extra beveled, and gilt centre Si 50 

H " u Gilt edges , 2 00 

Cineas; or, Rome under Nero, 

By J ,M. Villefranche. 
1 vol. 12mo. Cloth. Extra beveled ...... .~ $1 50 

G;lt edge 12.00 

This charming story of the time of Nero — the burning of Rome under thai 
tyrant, the destruction of Jerusalem, and the most cruel persecution of the 
Christians, is of that class of beautiful Christian novels, of which Fabiola was 
the first, and is considered one of the best yet written. 



A 

jfj&Jphonso ; or, the Triumph of Religion. 

1 vol. small 12 mo. neat cloth. Price , $1.00 

We have the pleasure to announce another of Mr. Cunningham's wor ks, VI- 
phonso. or the Triumph of Religion. It contains everything calculated lo instruct 
and edify at the same time, and we think it a work that will be read with 
great pleasure by all our readers. — Spare Hours. 

The scenes of thii book are ltid in France, but the moral applies -with equal 
force to our own country. The work is intended to show the evil effects of an 
irreligious education, and does so with great force and effect. The tale is from 
the pen of a gifted Irish iady, and well worth reading. Those who are sluggish 
in their response to our Most Rev. Archbishop's recent call in behalf of an In- 
dustrial School, should take a lesson from this valuable little book. ~-Laitimott 
Catholic Mirror. 



A History of England, 

For The Young. 

Compiled by the Sisters of the Holy Child Jesua, for the use of theri 
schools in England, and republished for the use of the Catholic Schools in 
the United States. 

1 vol. 12 mo 80 cts 

This is an admirable compendium of English history, deserving a place in all 
our scnools. It is well arranged for a class book, having genealogical tables, a 
good index, and questions for each chapter.— Catholic Mirror. 

This is a most valuable little book, giving just sufficient information to interest 
and attract the young without wearying them with superabundance of dates which 
thev rarely remember, and dry statistics which thty never read unless compelled 
to do so,' (a most injudicious process,) while by means of excellent genealogical 
and chronological taoies, it furnishes to those disposed to seek it, ample instruc- 
tion, and it will most probably inspire in the mind of an intelligent child, the 
wi=h to read more extended works. We take pleasure in commending thit 
• History of England" to the attention of all those interested in providing agree, 
.ble means of improvement to children.— A' F. Tabid. 



16 Published by Peler F. Gunn'ngham. 

PRAYER BOOKS. 

FLOWER GARDEN. 

An admirable small Prayer Book. Contains Morning and Evening 
Players, Mass Prayers, Ordinary of the Mass, {m Latin and English J 
Vespers, Forty Hours Devotion, Stations of the Cross, and a great va* 
riety of other'practical devotions, all together forming the most com- 
plete small Prayer Book yet printed. 1 vol., 32mo. 

No. 1, Neat cloth, variety of nice bright colors Sfo 45 

2, Roan, embossed, gilt edge 80 

3, 44 " 44 and clasp 1 on 

4, " full gilt edges and sides 1 00 

5, " " ** «• and clasp 1 25 

FLOWER GARDEN, 32mo., fine edition, printed on the finest quality 

of paper, and made up in the neatest and very best manner : 
No. 6, Turkey, super extra, full gilt or plain sides, red 

or gilt edges, stiff or flexible 12 50 

7, Turkey, super extra, full gilt or plain sides, red 

or gilt edges, with clasp 2 75 

8, Turkey, super extra, rims and clasp... 4 00 

9, Calf, extra, stiff or flexible, very neat 2 75 

10, " " with clasp ..3 00 

11, 11 " rims and clasp 4 50 

12, Velvet, full ornaments, rims, clasps and ovals... 6 00 

LITTLE FLOWER GARDEN. 

A beautiful miniature Prayer Book. 4Smo. Containing a selection 
of practical devotions, and made up in a variety of beautiful st yles 
of binding, 

No. 1, Neat cloth, variety of plain and bright colors. . .$0 20 

2, Roan, embossed, gilt edges 40 

3, " full gilt edges and sides 50 

4, '* tucks, very neat 60 

6, Turkey, super extra, full gilt or plain sides, red 

or gilt edges 1 50 

6, Turkey, super extra, full gilt or plain sides, with 

fine gilt clasp 1 75 

7, Turkey, super extra, rims and clasp 2 50 

8, Calf, extra, red or gilt edges, very neat 1 75 

9, " " " " with clasp 2 co 

10, 445 44 rims and clasp 3 00 

DAILY DEVOTIONS FOR CATHOLICS. 

An admirable small Prayer Book. 32mo., with very large typ^ 
(English,) good for thesliort-sighted, and for all who like to read w ilb 
case, without the necessity of using glasses. 

No. 1, Neat cloth, variety of nice bright colors $0 45 

2, Roan, embossed, gilt edge 80 

3, 44 " 44 and clasp 1 00 

4, 44 full gilt edges and sides 1 0G 

5, 41 " " 44 and clasp 1 25 

6, Turkey, super extra, full gilt or plain sides, red 

or gilt edges, stiff or flexible 2 50 

7, Turkey, super extra, full gilt or plain sides, red 

or gilt edges, with clasp 2 75 

8, Turkey, super extra, rims and clasp 4 00 

9, Calf, extra, stiff or flexible, very neat 2 75 

10, 44 44 4t with clasp 3 00 

11, « " *« rims and clasp 4 60 

12, Velvet, full ornaments, rims, clasps and ovals... 6 W 



216 South Third Street, Philadelphia. 17 
MANUAL OF DEVOTION. 

An excellent 32mo. Prayer Book, with illvMrations of the Mats. 
No. 1, Neat cloth, a Tariety of plain and bright colors. $0 30 

2, Eoan, embossed, gilt edges 00 

3, " " " and clasp 81 

4, '« full gilt edges and 3ides 81 

5, " 4i and clasp 1 00 

6, Turkey, super extra, full gilt or plain sides 2 50 

7, " <4 rims and clasp 3 fO 

8, Calf, extra, stiff or flexible, bound very neat. .... 2 75 

9, il " ' and clasp 3 i0 

10, " rims and clasp 4 00 

DAILY EXERCISE. 

A beautiful miniature Prayer Book. 43mo., with illustrations of lh* 
v Mass. 

No. 1, Neat cloth a variety of choice colors $0 20 

2, Roan, embossed, gilt edge 43 

3, " full gilt edge and sides .....0 50 

4, " tucks, very neat 60 

6, Turkey, super extra 1 50 

6, " tucks 1 50 

7, " '* rims and clasp 2 50 

8, Calf, extra. 1 75 

9, " with clasp 2 CO 

10, " rims and clasp. 3 00 

The Hymn Book. 

The Hymn-Book— 180th thousand— the most popular little Hymn Book 
ever published. Contains, also, Prayers for the Mass, Prayers for Con- 
fession and Communion, and Serving of Mass. 13 cents each, or $10 per 
hundred ; cloth, 20 cents, or $1 80 per dozen. 

The Gospels. 

For Sundays and Principal Festivals during the year, together with 
the Four Gospels of the Passion for Palm Sunday and Holy Week, 
1 vol. c2mo. Paper cover 10 cts., or per dozen, $1 CO. 

Confirmation and Communion Certificates. 

The subscriber has had prepared very beautiful certificates of Ccnfir* 
s.iaiion and First Communion, giving also exterior and interior views 
L>f the Cathedral of Philadelphia. These are the most beautiful certifi- 
cates ever published in this country, and are sold at low rates to tha 
Reverend Clergy and others who buy in quantity. $3 00 per hundred. 

Angels 9 Sodality. 

Manual of the Holy Angels" Sodality. Price, in cloth, flexible, $12 50 
per hundred, or SI £0 per dozen. 

Diplomas for Membership of the Angels' Sodality. Beautiful design 
$1 0J per dozen 

Blessed Virgin's Sodality Diploma. 

A Very Beautiful Diploma for Members of the Sodality of the Blessed 
Virgin Mary, size of plate 15x20, has just been prepared by the unJer- 
signed. Orders respectfully solicited. The name of the Church- and 
title of the Sodality inserted to order. 

Catechisms. 

Butler's large and small Catechisms. The general Catechism of the 
National Council. Tuberville s Catechism, Dr. Doyle's Catechisms. 
Fleury s Catechism and The Catholic Christian Instructed Supplied 
Wholesale and Retail. And many other Catholic Doctrinal Works. 

Orders respectfully solicited. 

PETEE F, CUNNINGHAM, 

Publisher, 2iti & Third St., Phiiada. 



18 Published by Peter F, Cunningham, 
Meditations on the Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary, 

By the Abbe Edward Barthe. Published with the approbation of the 

Right Rev. Bishop of Philadelphia. 1 vol., 12mo. 

Cloth, extra beveled ; $1 r>Q 

Cloth, gilt 2 00 

MESSENGER SERIES. 

[Attention is respectfully called to this series of beautiful works, originally 
prepared for the Messenger of the Sacred Heart, and now offered to the public 
in handsome 12mo vols. We recommend ever> Catholic family to procure 
the " Messenger Series."] 



i. L 

l Si 



eandro ; or, The Sign of the Cross, 

A beautiful Catholic Tale. 1 vol., 12mo. 

Cloth, extra beveled Il 50 

Cloth, gilt 2 OC 



2. O imon Peter and Simon Magus, 

A Legend of the early days of Christianity in Rome. By Rev. John 
Joseph Franco, S. J. 'l vol., 12mo. 

Cloth, extra beveled $1 60 

Cloth, gilt 2 00 



Acts of the Early Martyrs. 



By the Rev. J. A. M. Fastre, S. J. First series. 1 vol., 12mo. 

Cloth, extra beveled $1 50 

Cloth, gilt. 2 00 

4. The Acts of the Early Martyrs. 

By the Rev. J. A M. Fastre, S. J. Second Sertes. ♦ vol., 12mo. 

Cloth, extra beveled- - $1 50 

Cloth, gilt . « 2 00 

6. The Acts of the Early Martyrs. [In Press.] 

By the Rev. J. A. M. Fastre, Third Series. 1 vol., 12mo. 

.Cloth, extra beveled •• Si 50 

Cloth, gilt « 2 00 



M 



I) 



arion Howard; or, Trials and Triumphs. 

1 vol. 12mo. Cloth, extra beveled ...,$2 00 

Cloth, gilt edge - •. 2 50 



ivine Life of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary. 

Being an abridgment of the "Mystical City of God." 
By Ven. Mary of Jesus of Agreda. 

J vol. 12mo. Cloth, extra be veled , ..$2 00 

Cloth, gilt edge ..,„..,... Z 60 



